COLUMBIA, Tenn. (WTVF) — Parents and students were alarmed Sunday night when a social media post started making the rounds. It warned that someone was preparing to shoot up a local high school.
"Every threat is serious. It’s real," said Jack Cobb, Communications Director for Maury County Schools.
The threat certainly felt real. It was a picture of a Snapchat photo, featuring guns and the horrifying words: "I'm shooting up central. I'm tired of getting picked on everyone is dying tomorrow."
"People were scared, it scares the Dickens out of people when things like this are done," said Cobb.
Maury County Schools learned about the post around 8 p.m. Sunday night and immediately reached out to the Maury County Sheriff's Office.
"It was very fast, and very impressive I might say, of the Maury County Sheriff’s Department that by 10 p.m., they had already uncovered who did it and taken two suspects into custody," said Cobb.
Maury County Schools confirms it was two juveniles who made the social media post. To see the post details, watch the video above.
NewsChannel 5 consulted Legal Analyst Nick Leonardo about how severe their punishments could be.
"Juvenile cases are sealed, so the public doesn’t have access to them," warned Leonardo.
However, Leonardo says how long they serve is mostly up to the District Attorney. If they're charged as juveniles, it could be a lesser sentence. If they're charged as adults, it could be much more.
"Some of them could be an A felony, some could be a B felony and that carries significant prison time. And there’s also enhancement factors in sentencing for certain crimes that are committed," he said.
Class A felonies have sentences between 15-25 years in Tennessee. Class B felonies have sentences between 8-12 years in Tennessee.
Thanks to a new state law, it's all but certain the kids will face expulsion at school as well.
"That is a zero-tolerance policy. They don’t care if you’re kidding. They don’t care if you didn’t really mean it or you were just mad. At the end of the day, you would be expelled from school for a period of one year," said Leonardo.
Cobb says such serious traumatic threats deserve equally serious consequences.
"It’s not funny, folks. It’s not right. It’s illegal," he said.
District Attorney Brent Cooper tells NewsChannel 5 he hasn't spoken to the Maury County Sheriff so he didn't have additional information to add to our story.
Wilson County also investigated the incident because the district also has a Central High School, but determined the post originated out of Maury County.
The Tennessee General Assembly considered a bill that would make any threat made against a school an automatic felony, but the bill didn't pass the August Special Session.
