By John Brice
Correspondent
In the wake of a terrifying school shooting that occurred in Winder, Georgia earlier this month there has been serious concern and anxiety amongst students, families, faculty, school administrators and the community at large across the nation and especially here in Chambers County and surrounding areas with this latest tragedy having taken place only a few hours away.
Against this backdrop of widespread worry where tensions are running high, confusion over possible threats made on social media against Lanett schools resulted in a swift reaction from law enforcement. In a September 12th post to the official Facebook page for the Lanett Police Department, a press release stated “The Lanett Police Department continues to have an increased presence at our local schools as the investigation of this threat continues. We thank the community for their cooperation and support.”
Providing further details, the release continued “Local law enforcement is aware of a social media post that has been seen and shared by others that makes reference to shooting up of Lanett City School. While we have not received any credible threats to a specific campus, we take these threats very seriously and our detectives are working to find the source of the post. Should that person be located, they will be arrested and charged to the full extent of the law of the State of Alabama.
Updates will be available through the news media or social media. Any persons with information pertaining to this threat are encouraged to contact the Chambers County Dispatch Center at 334-576-0914 or Central Alabama Crime Stoppers at 334-215-STOP”.
In an update provided the next day, the LPD posted “The Lanett Police Department has closed the investigation into the social media threat believed to have been directed at the Lanett City Schools. The investigation revealed that there was not a threat against the Lanett City Schools. Detectives were able to determine that the original post had been a previously known post pertaining to a school in another city.
A screenshot of this post was taken and inadvertently the name of the school was cropped from the picture. This screen shot was shared on social media and the students incorrectly assumed it was directed against the Lanett City Schools.
The Lanett Police Department will consider any threat against our children seriously and thank the students, parents and school administrations for their assistance in this investigation. We encourage anyone with information about a threat to our community’s children to immediately come forward. Again, there was not a threat directed against the Lanett City Schools.”
