Just weeks after a Putnam County high school was placed on lockdown, another student has been charged for allegedly making a threat against the school.
PUTNAM COUNTY, Tenn. (WKRN) — Just weeks after a Putnam County high school was placed on lockdown, another student has been charged for allegedly making a threat against the school.
In a news release Monday, the Putnam County Sheriff’s Department said the student was taken into custody after making a social media post stating that there was going to be a shooting at Cookeville High School and to not come to school.
A student at Monterey High School reportedly saw the social media post and reported it to school officials. The Sheriff’s Department said the School Resources Officers (SROs) at Cookeville High School were immediately able to apprehend the student believed to be responsible.
After consultation with the District Attorney’s Office, authorities said they decided to charge the student for making a threat of mass violence on school property. As of Monday, the student was still detained in the Putnam County Jail.
Putnam County Sheriff Eddie Farris commended the student at Monterey High School for bringing the alleged threat to authorities, as well as the SROs for “running to the threat to detain the student.”
While the school was not placed on a lockdown for this incident, a threat made in August did prompt officials to secure the area. Cookeville High School was placed on lockdown on the morning of Aug. 27 after a student at the school claimed to have a gun.
According to the Putnam County School System, a ninth-grade student stood up in the middle of class around 9:40 a.m. and said, “I have a gun in my backpack.” The teacher then pressed the classroom’s panic button, which alerted school officials and SROs.
The student was ultimately found not to be in possession of a gun but was still taken into custody and charged for making a threat of mass violence on a school property.
Several other school districts across Middle Tennessee have also dealt with potential threats over the past few weeks, including schools in Cannon, Franklin, Humphreys, Macon, Warren and Davidson Counties.
In Monday’s release, Farris said he would “highly urge parents to have a conversation with their school-aged children about the seriousness of sharing threatening posts and discussing any type of violence related to school or school events.”