A Columbus High School student is in custody after he apparently made a Facebook post threatening to shoot the school.
The post, which appeared Sunday afternoon, included a photo of a shirtless male and said: “… just be at school tomorrow and yall better take cover in that b**** im takeing a gun to school tomorrow and i put that ong….”
Columbus Police Chief Fred Shelton confirmed the person believed to have made the post was in custody by Sunday evening. The subject is a male juvenile who attends CHS.
It’s unclear whether the suspect will be charged as a juvenile or an adult, something Shelton said will be up to a municipal judge. If charged as a juvenile, the case will be remanded to youth court.
Shelton said investigators learned of the post at about 3 p.m. Sunday and that he received multiple text messages from concerned citizens who wanted to ensure police knew about the threat.
The post has since been taken down, Shelton said.
Columbus Municipal School District Superintendent Cherie Labat told The Dispatch in a text message that school will be held today as usual.
“We will not be postponing school,” Labat said. “The situation has been resolved. We worked diligently through this situation with our school resource officers and the Columbus Police Department. Safety is our number one priority for students, faculty and staff.
“I would like to commend our school resource officers and the Columbus Police Department for their proactive and speedy response to removing the immediate threat,” she added.
Shelton said additional CPD officers will be patrolling the schools today to ensure the students’ safety.
He also thanked community members who saw the post and alerted CPD, which he said allowed officers to respond quickly. He added it’s important for the safety of students for police officers to take all threats against schools seriously.
“We talk about credible threats, but … a threat is a threat,” he said.
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