Since the deadly shooting inside a Georgia high school earlier this month, Tennessee law enforcement agencies have been forced to investigate numerous threats.
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WKRN) – Since the deadly shooting inside a Georgia high school earlier this month, Tennessee law enforcement agencies have been forced to investigate numerous threats.
Chris Stanford, district attorney general for Warren and Van Buren counties, said he believes the tragedy at Apalachee High School in Winder, Georgia has led to a lot of copycat behavior.
Back in 2022, Stanford said 13 Van Buren and Warren County students were charged with threats of mass violence. So far in the 2024-25 school year, there have been two. This week alone, he said he’d received reports of daily, sometimes even hourly, threats that had to be looked into.
“We look at every threat because every threat has to be vetted,” Stanford said. “You cannot have one of these threats and not take it seriously. If you make these kinds of threats, you violate Tennessee law, and you will be held accountable. It’s simply because we want our students to feel safe in a learning environment where they don’t have to worry.”
A recent update to Tennessee law upgraded the penalty for threatening mass violence on school property from a Class A misdemeanor to a Class E felony, which, on average, leads to seven months in jail, according to the bill’s fiscal note.
“Not only is it a felony, but it also carries, in most instances, mandatory expulsion from school, a year loss of driving privileges, a mandatory term of probation where you are monitored by the court in every aspect of your life, and then on top of that, parents are saddled with the cost of detention and they may hire a lawyer for their child,” Stanford explained. “The judge may decide that the child is delinquent, and at that point, they’ve got to pay fines, court costs and things of that nature on top of everything else, and so it’s a huge financial burden on the family.”
Stanford told News 2 that he feels these escalated consequences will make people think twice before acting out.
“The best deterrent is young people knowing that we are serious, we’re going to hold you accountable, and it’s not going to be pleasant when we do,” Stanford said. “If we can consistently get that message across with this newer law that we’ve got, my hope is that the young people themselves will say, ‘Hey, it just isn’t worth it to seek attention in this way’, and maybe they’ll learn healthier ways to do it.”
Oftentimes, Stanford said the children making threats of violence have unresolved and untreated mental health issues.
Results from multiple studies by the U.S. Secret Service’s National Threat Assessment Center showed that 91% of school attackers had observable psychological, behavioral, or neurological symptoms.
“We’ve noticed that some of these children have other things going on in their lives, and they’re generally, I think a lot of times, acting out, seeking attention from their peers,” Stanford said. “If you do and say these really extreme things in our society, people give you attention, and whether or not that attention is good or bad, I think sometimes people don’t care. They’re just hungry for attention.”
Stanford advises parents to speak with their children and pay attention to their mental health, feelings and behaviors.
“If the families would look at their children hopefully on the front end and try to identify children that may be struggling or may be needing or seeking this kind of attention inside their homes, there are resources in all of our communities that can help these children before it gets to a level where they find themselves in this spot.”
If you come across troublesome activity online, Stanford asks that you report the incident to officials instead of reposting it.
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“Please bear with us and allow law enforcement time to investigate all of these rumors so that we can bring you the information and let you know that everything is all clear,” Stanford said. “If it’s not safe, you can rest assured, the schools will be locked down and the students will be protected immediately if we have a credible threat.”
The Tennessee Department of Safety and Homeland Security offers the SafeTN app, which allows anyone to anonymously report threats, suspicious or criminal behavior and other safety concerns.
To learn more about the SafeTN app, or to download it for free, click here.