A middle school student accused of making social media threats that put multiple Griffin-Spalding County schools on lockdown has been charged and suspended from the school system, the Spalding County Sheriff’s Office said Monday.
The sixth-grader from Rehoboth Road Middle School is charged with 12 counts of terroristic threats and acts and eight counts of disorderly conduct in connection with the bomb threats made against Rehoboth and Spalding High School in a series of Instagram messages March 12.
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Both schools were evacuated for hours after administration became aware of the threats. One of the threats, sent as a private message, said: “Yeah yall snitched im gonna blow you up,”Channel 2 Action News previously reported.
The high school got the all-clear about 11:15 a.m. after officials found no credible threat. Officials deemed the middle school safe just before noon.
As the students went back into the school that day, another message came through on the Instagram account, Channel 2 reported. That one contended that since students were back in class, bombs would go off.
Days later, additional threats were made, which prompted several schools to be locked down. Spalding High School, Griffin High School, Rehoboth Road Middle School, Kennedy Road Middle School, Cowan Road Middle School and Griffin Christian Academy were placed on lockdown March 18.
Investigators said the student was using a cellphone and accessing Instagram through the Rehoboth Road Middle School’s Wi-Fi system to send the threats.
“When we attempted to track the IP address of the cellphone, it returned to the Rehoboth Road Middle School Wi-Fi system since the student was using that means to access the internet and the Instagram account,” sheriff’s office spokesman Cpt. Dwayne Jones said.
Jones said the student hijacked the password of another student’s Instagram account and changed the password to lock out the other student.
“He also included his own real Instagram account name in the thread where the threats were being generated so as he was sending the threats he was also receiving the threats under his real name to make it appear that he was also a victim,” Jones said.
Officials said he was cared for by his grandmother.
“She has been completely cooperative with Rehoboth Road Middle School staff and Spalding County Sheriff’s Office investigators,”Jones said. “At this point it will be difficult to hold the grandmother accountable for the child’s actions or to seek restitution from her, since she had no knowledge that her grandson had a phone and did not know he was accessing social media.”
Jones said the student’s parents cannot be held accountable for restitution either due to “their current status in the child’s life.”
“This student’s life is the perfect storm for bad behavior to manifest itself,” Jones said. “He will be held accountable but will also receive other forms of help.”
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