Georgia high school student in trouble after ‘threatening’ social media image

A Calhoun High School student shared this image on social media, parents told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

A Calhoun High School student shared this image on social media, parents told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

A North Georgia high school student is facing disciplinary action after sharing a threatening image to a social media account, officials said Tuesday.

The student was in a law and justice course with an instructor who gave the student an unloaded handgun as part of the curriculum, Calhoun High School Principal Peter Coombe told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

That instructor is a police officer who is licensed to carry a firearm, Coombe said.

The student then created an image and shared it on social media. Coombe did not describe the post, but called it an example of “extremely poor judgment” and there was no credible threat to students or staff.

Parents told the AJC the image was shared on Snapchat and a screenshot was later shared on Facebook. That image shows a person pointing a handgun at a sign for Columbine High School with a text overlay saying “Can’t wait for lunch.”

In 1999, two teenagers at Columbine High School in Littleton, Colorado, went on a shooting spree, killing 13 people and wounding more than 20 others before turning the guns on themselves.

Coombe did not say if the student was arrested.

“The student made a lapse in judgment in posting a threatening image on social media and will face appropriate consequences,” Coombe said.

Calhoun is about 70 miles northwest of Atlanta.

In October, two students at Etowah High School in Cherokee County were arrested after making threats against students and staff.

Alfred Dupree and Victoria McCurley had access to firearms, but Cherokee County Sheriff Frank Reynolds said they more likely planned to use a flammable device not unlike a bottle-based petrol bomb commonly known as a Molotov cocktail against school staff.

Both 17-year-old juniors will be tried as adults on attempted murder and other charges, the sheriff’s office said.

In other news: