NORTH CARROLLTON – Carroll County sheriff’s deputies were on patrol at J.Z. George High School this morning in response to community fears about a student who was reportedly suspended for pretending to fire a gun at other students and subsequent rumors about a shooting planned at the school.
“At this point we’ve talked to the Mississippi Bureau of Investigation and the FBI has been notified. Every precaution has been taken, and there’s not a sign of any actual threat,” Sheriff Clint Walker said.
According to district Security Director Anjuan Brown, the student was sitting in class, making finger gestures, pretending to aim and fire in a conversation with others about a video game.
Brown said the boy was suspended and, according to school policy, would return to school on Tuesday with a parent in his company to be readmitted.
Apparently as a result of that suspension, a Leflore County parent called the Leflore County Sheriff’s Department Thursday to report that someone had threatened a shooting at J.Z. George today.
The Sheriff’s Department alerted J.Z. George personnel and the Carroll County Sheriff’s Department.
Brown confirmed that attendance at the school was thin today, with many parents keeping their children home as a result of shooting rumors that spread on Facebook overnight.
This morning a Facebook message on the school district’s Facebook page from Walker said:
“Good morning. This message comes from the CARROLL COUNTY SHERIFF. The matter of a rumor of a school shooting to take place at J.Z. George High today, Friday, Feb. 16, has been investigated and resolved, and there is no threat to the school environment.”
Walker said the presence of his department at the school this morning in no way indicated he believed an actual threat existed but was “just to show parents we are concerned for the safety of their children.”
Walker said he had met several times with the boy who was suspended and his guardians and sees no threat of potential danger there.
“The kid’s a good kid who made a wrong statement at the wrong time,” he said.
Walker said he shared the concerns of parents and other students who are alarmed by the school shooting in Parkland, Florida, on Wednesday, in which 17 people died.
“What’s going on in our country over the last few days has got everybody scared,” he said.
The accused shooter in Florida, Nikolas Cruz, who is in police custody, had been expelled from Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School for behavioral reasons.
Walker said he believed that what happened at J.Z. George would not have come to the attention of the public if not for what happened in Florida.
“Lots of schools are on lockdown right now,” he said. “It’s a scary world.”
nContact Kathryn Eastburn at 581-7235 or keastburn@gwcommonwealth.com.
