Several metro Atlanta schools will have an increased police presence Friday as a precaution after learning of rumored threats, some posted on social media, tied to Friday’s anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.
Sept. 11 attacks to be marked with events in metro Atlanta
Gwinnett County schools spokesman Bernard Watson said Thursday more patrol units will be at North Gwinnett High on Friday.
“We are aware of the social media talk about threats at North Gwinnett High School and we have looked into them and have not been able to find any proof that the threats are real…” Watson said in a statement. He said parents have been notified about the rumors.
“We take all threats seriously and investigate them thoroughly to make sure all our students are safe,” Watson said.
Captain Jeff Richards of the Carroll County Sheriff’s Office said his department also has investigated “several inquiries concerning social media postings threatening violence and mass shootings in the surrounding schools on 9-11.
“We have not found any of these threats as credible,” Richards said in a statement. “We have been communicating with other agencies as well as Homeland Security. However, we will enhance our presence in and around the schools within the county.”
School districts outside of metro Atlanta also were taking threats seriously. Haralson County, 55 miles west of Atlanta, was beefing up police presence Friday at schools after a rumored threat tied to the anniversary of the terrorist attacks.
“Although the threat is not directly related to our schools we believe that the safety of our students and staff is paramount; therefore, we will have law enforcement officers stationed at each school throughout the day,” the Haralson County School District posted on its Facebook page.
Some threats in metro Atlanta this week did not specifically refer to Sept. 11, but the authorities nevertheless increased patrols.
Additional resource officers were assigned to Shiloh High and Middle schools in Gwinnett on Tuesday and Wednesday as a precaution after an unspecified threat was posted on social media targeting the high school over the Labor Day weekend.
Gwinnett County School District spokeswoman Sloan Roach told Channel 2 Action News school attendance was lower on Tuesday and Wednesday as word of the threat spread.
“With social media, some of these rumors just take on a life of their own,” Roach told News 95.5 and AM 750 WSB. “Even if there’s nothing to it, nothing that can be substantiated, even if a child did not really mean something, it does grow and then is spread very quickly.”
Students and staff at Sequoya High School in Cherokee County also noticed an increased police presence this week after rumored threats, but schools spokeswoman Barbara Jacoby said neither were related to the Sept. 11 anniversary.
Jacoby said one threat was allegedly made against a classmate after a dispute and authorities determined there was no danger posed to students or staff. The student faces disciplinary action. Rumored threats at another unidentified school were determined not to be viable, Jacoby said.
— Channel 2 Action News contributed to this article
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