(The Center Square) – The Knox County Sheriff’s Office reported it responded to seven threats at local schools Tuesday.
The threats were made by middle and high school students with many involving shooting or a bomb at the school with several appearing on social media.
The first threat, at 8:15 a.m., came when a student threatened to shoot up the school. The 13-year-old eighth-grader was arrested.
The next two threats were at Halls Middle School and Halls High School, the latter being a repost of the original threat on social media, police said.
The fourth threat was a different school threat from social media at Gibbs High School.
The fifth threat was a social media post that led to the arrest of a 12-year-old seventh-grader at West Valley Middle School.
“Detectives have determined that the female student is one of the people responsible for posting the ‘online’ threat that included a list of Knox County and other Schools,” the Knox County Sheriff’s Office wrote.
The sixth threat was a bomb threat that is still under investigation at Halls Middle School and the seventh was a school threat at Hardin Valley Academy.
“We want to recognize our law enforcement partners at KCS Security Division, Tennessee Homeland Security, the Federal Bureau of Investigation Knoxville Office, and the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation,” the Knox County Sheriff’s Office posted. “We’re grateful for the administration and faculty of the Knox County School System and their continued cooperation.”
