BURLINGTON, Ky. -- Boone County authorities have charged five students since Feb. 12 in connection to threats they said the youths made against their schools.
Boone County deputies said there have been a "plethora" of social media posts about both factual incidents and rumors and exaggeration.
On Feb. 12, a Cooper High School student admitted to school administrators that she had written a threat about chlorine bombs and shooting in a girls bathroom at the school, according to deputies. She also admitted to writing two other threats in bathrooms on Jan. 11 and Feb. 8. She was charged with terroristic threatening.
A special education student at Boone County High School was also charged with terroristic threatening on Feb. 15 after deputies said she threatened to "take a knife to her dad" and to bring a gun to school and shoot people. The incident stemmed "from an outburst she had in which she threw multiple school items to the ground," deputies wrote in a report.
The next day, deputies responded to reports of two threats. A student at Conner High School told numerous students he would be the next school shooter, deputies said. He's facing charges of terroristic threatening and disorderly conduct.
At Ockerman Middle School, school officials were inside the cafeteria dealing with one incident and had the door closed. Out in the hall, a student yelled that there was a shooter in the cafeteria. "This caused an extreme amount of alarm/panic with the other students who immediately started to text their parents the same thing," deputies wrote in a report. "As a result Ockerman received an overwhelming amount of phone calls and emails about this false information." That boy is now facing a charge of disorderly conduct.
On Monday, a teacher at R.A. Jones Middle School asked a student how she was feeling, after having been out sick last week. The girl said she was feeling upset with everyone at school and wanted to shoot everyone there, according to deputies. Even after the teacher told the girl that was an inappropriate thing to say, the girl maintained that she would shoot all the students and teachers, naming one teacher she said "would be the first one on my list," deputies wrote in their report. The girl is facing a charge of terroristic threatening.
In a written statement, Boone County Schools Superintendent Randy Poe asked parents to talk to their children about these situations.
"Threats will be taken seriously," Poe said. "Sometimes students say or do things as pranks not realizing the seriousness of what they are saying or doing. The consequences of their actions could affect your child's record."
Sheriff Michael Helmig has a zero tolerance policy for threats in schools and has told deputies and school resource officers to charge the cases, deputies said.
"Parents of Boone County school children can rest assured all incidents and allegations are investigated," deputies wrote in a news release. "The students need to know their actions carry consequences."
