Officials investigating a false bomb threat at Athens High School, which caused panic and disrupted classes early Monday morning, have identified a suspect.
The threat originated from a note one student found during second period, about 9 a.m., in the women’s restroom, which she then reported to the principal’s office.
Students were then moved to “safe locations outside of the building,” while authorities from The Plains Volunteer Fire Department and the Sheriff’s Office arrived on the scene to investigate, said Tom Gibbs, the Athens City School District’s associate superintendent.
Authorities did a sweep of the building and “We started viewing video and started piecing things together, you know, where the note was found,” Gibbs said. “Pretty quickly we identified a suspect. The sheriff’s (office) interviewed the suspect and that person admitted to making a false threat.”
Gibbs said the suspect faces “serious,” charges, noting the false threat was a violation of both state and federal law.
“It could range anywhere to inducing panic to being in violation of federal laws related to homeland security. That is a determination that will be made by the prosecutor in conjunction with the sheriff’s (office),” Gibbs said.
Athens County Prosecutor Keller Blackburn referred all comment to the sheriff’s office, which said its first public statement would come in the form of a news release.
Gibbs, who made a robocall to parents and others on the district’s calling list, described the scene outside the school as “fairly,” calm.
“The whole thing didn’t last very long. I made my first call at 9:07 a.m. That’s when we found out. And I made my final call regarding this ... at 10:30 a.m., when students were beginning to go back into the school.”
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