A 15-year-old male Christian County High School student is being charged with 2nd Degree Terroristic Threatening after making jokes that he would“bring a gun and shoot up the school.”
Christian County Schools Superintendent Mary Ann Gemmill says students overheard the threat while on a bus ride home, Thursday. Gemmill said she is grateful the students reported the incident.
“I think national and local media have done a really good job to helping us get the message, out to our families and our students that you need to report. And this is exactly what happened.” Gemmill said.
Authorities arrested the student as he exited the bus Friday morning.
“Unfortunately this student made a very dumb statement and said it was a joke. But, you know, fortunately, it was taken care of in a very timely manner and it was reported by a student immediately.” Gemmill said.
Police have not released the name of the student arrested, but charged him with 2nd Degree Terroristic Threatening and transported him to McCracken Regional Juvenile Detention Center in Paducah, where he will remain until his court date.
Gemmill said students will be out of school Monday, and the district has planned a “Growth Day,” which will address the school’s comprehensive safety plan.
Additional active shooter training is also scheduled for school administrators on Feb. 27th.
“We feel pretty comfortable about the drills that we have in place, but the active shooter scenarios have been so different at every location. We believe that there is much more training and revisions and reflections that we need to do with active shooter drills.” Gemmill said in addition to the active shooter drills, staff will train for weather related incidents like tornados as well.
