Increased police presence at Fort Mill school after weapon rumor, officials say
Police presence has been increased at a school in Fort Mill Friday morning after a rumor spread on social media that a student was planning to bring a gun to school, officials said.
A second officer was stationed at Nation Ford High School, and additional patrol officers were nearby, said Maj. Bryan Zachary of the Fort Mill Police Department. The department has a dedicated school resource officer at the school during school hours, Zachary said.
An anonymous tip was sent to a crimestoppers site claiming a student would bring a weapon to school Friday, Zachary said. Fort Mill detectives investigated Thursday night and Friday and found no threat was made, Zachary said.
However, there were posts on social media claiming that the threat was legitimate, Zachary said.
“We investigated this thoroughly and found no credibility that there was, or would be, any threat of a any student bringing a weapon on campus,” Zachary said.
Officials at the school learned there had been social media posts claiming a student would bring a weapon, Principal Jason Johns said in an email to parents. Officials alerted law enforcement, according to Johns.
“There existed not a single indication that that the social media posts or rumors of those posts reflected even the slightest accurate information,” Johns told parents in the email.
Jenny Overman, spokesperson for the Fort Mill school district, said the message from school officials to parents was sent out of an abundance of caution.
“We want our parents to be fully aware of the situation,” Overman said.
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