Catoosa County Sheriff’s Office detectives charged an eighth grade Ringgold Middle School student with making terroristic threats after he allegedly posted threats late Wednesday night against his school on social media.
Sheriff Gary Sisk says the student’s threats appear to have been inspired by online threats made in another social media post earlier in the evening.
Sheriff Sisk says the original threatening social media message posted at about 7 p.m. pm Wednesday, and the Ringgold Middle School student then re-posted that message to include his own threatening language later in the evening.
Sheriff Sisk said it is unclear if the original threat made at 7 p.m. was intended for an online audience in Ringgold, or for a similarly named city in another state. Sheriff Sisk said that original post quickly circulated in the Catoosa County community, and his deputies and school officials immediately went to the school to investigate.
Catoosa County Public Schools Superintendent Deana Reese released a statement Wednesday night confirming the original threatening post was being investigated by the Sheriff’s Office.
“The original threat made at 7 p.m. was determined to be not credible, “said Sheriff Sisk. “We later interviewed the Ringgold Middle School student and confirmed that he was not a credible threat to his school, students or staff. However, the community chaos that his post caused is a prime example of why we and Catoosa County Public Schools have a zero-tolerance policy toward threats of any kind, whether made in person, online or through any other means.”
The Ringgold Middle School student was charged Thursday morning and is in custody at the Youth Detention Center in Dalton.