HUNTINGTON, W.Va. — Police have filed criminal charges against a 17 year old student at Huntington High School in connection with a threat posted on social media.
The student admitted to Huntington Police that the threat, which accused another student of bringing a gun to school, was a hoax.
Cabell County 911 received the call at around 7:26 a.m. Tuesday.
Jedd Flowers, spokesperson for Cabell County Schools, said the school was placed on lockdown out of an abundance of caution.
“We implement the lockdown to make sure that, while police are investigating the situation, if there are not any secondary actors or anybody like that that they don’t have access to the school,” Flowers said.
Police determined that a student posted a picture on social media with a caption claiming that another random student had a firearm. The post caused alarm among others who viewed it, even though the picture in the post did not show any weapons.
Flowers said the student in the post did nothing wrong.
“Upon interviewing the student who was featured in the social media post, they found that the student had been wrongfully accused,” Flowers said.
The lockdown was lifted at around 8:25 a.m. and classes resumed as scheduled.
No one was hurt and no one was put in danger.
Police charged the student with threats of terrorist acts.
Flowers said the school district plans to follow up with those involved and that “disciplinary measures will be followed.”
