Shooting threat leads to smaller attendance at Greenland school
Posted on Wednesday, January 31, 2007
More than half the students at Greenland Middle School missed class on Tuesday after a threatening note was found last week on a bathroom wall.
"Only about a quarter of them showed up today," said Gary Ricker, Greenland police chief. "The rest were running around town eating candy bars all day. They had excused absences."
Ricker said school officials sent notices home to parents on Monday informing them of a threatening message found on a wall in the girls' bathroom.
"The message said that there would be a school shooting on 1-30-07," he said. "It appeared on the wall between classes Friday afternoon."
School officials informed parents that classes would run as scheduled Tuesday but that all absences would be excused.
"Basically the parents got to choose whether or not they wanted to send their kids to school today," Ricker said.
Students who did attend school Tuesday were searched for weapons upon entering the building.
"The school was on lockdown all day long," Ricker said. "Students were not allowed to walk between any of the buildings throughout the entire day. Each student was searched and scanned with a metal detector before they could enter the school."
Officers from the Washington County Sheriff's Office and the Fayetteville Police Department reportedly assisted Greenland police in student searches.
"We didn't put a lot of faith in (the threat ), but we can't take chances," Ricker said. "It's better to be safe than sorry, and that's why the school decided to take action."
Ricker said the threat, which was the first of its kind at the middle school, is being investigated by police.
"I have a couple of ideas of who did it, but whether we can prove it or not is another story," he said. "We've done quite a few interviews."
Greenland police reportedly believe the threat was made by a student at the school.
Classes are set to run as scheduled today.
"(Today ) the school won't be on complete lock-down, but we'll still be checking the students for weapons," Ricker said.
Calls made to David Hudgens, Greenland Middle School principal, were referred to Superintendent Ron Brawner. Those calls were not returned by press time.
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