A 15-year-old Forsyth County high school student was arrested Friday after threatening classmates and attempting to acquire a gun, according to Forsyth County sheriff’s deputies.
The teen became the second student at Lambert High School arrested in eight days in connection with making threats against the school. The threat was among at least six made against metro Atlanta schools over the past two weeks.
Deputies charged the student, who was not named, with a felony count of terroristic threats. He was taken into custody and transported to the Regional Youth Detention Center in Gainesville.
Investigators said he threatened “to cause harm to students” at the school and tried to “solicit a gun from another student to carry out the assault.”
The student’s alleged plot was foiled when classmates reported him. It was not clear whether the student’s alleged threats were made online.
“Thanks to the actions of a few students, a potential tragedy was avoided. These students had the courage to come forward and report this danger to the staff at the school,” Forsyth Sheriff Ron Freeman said.
A 14-year-old Newton County teen was arrested Thursday, charged with making threats on social media against students and staff at Eastside High School. The teen now faces two felonies.
A nationwide TikTok trend that encouraged students to make fake bomb threats and school shooting threats put schools throughout metro Atlanta on heightened alert Friday. School districts in Atlanta, DeKalb and Decatur notified parents of the viral challenge that was circulating the social media app and beefed up police presence at their schools. Classes all of Polk County’s schools were canceled Friday, according to Channel 2 Action News.
Local school officials urged parents to monitor their children’s social media activity as well and talk to them about the seriousness of making threats.
“This situation serves as a good example of why it is important to avoid sharing posts online that refer to school safety threats,” the bulletin from Atlanta Public Schools stated. “Even if they are not credible threats, they can cause a great deal of stress and anxiety for our students, families, and staff.”
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