Who called in threats at Cornelius schools? Police say a suspect is in Texas
Cornelius detectives traveled to Texas to try to speak with a suspect in Wednesday’s bomb threat at Hough High School.
That bomb threat came during a week when both Hough and Bailey Middle School in Cornelius received threats.
Deputy Police Chief Jennifer Thompson provided more details in a Facebook video Thursday about what police have learned:
Police and Charlotte-Mecklenburg schools said Monday that someone called in a threat at Bailey Middle about a bomb or bombs around the school.
Students were taken to a field. But then another threat came in, this time about a shooting. So officials moved the students further away from the school, to the Foamex plant parking lot.
Meanwhile, Hough High School nearby received a threat during dismissal.
And then on Wednesday, Hough received a threat that bombs had been placed outside the building.
A man who called in a threat at Hough “stayed on the phone for a good while,” Thompson said. Authorities asked him questions and he gave answers, she said.
Police haven’t pinpointed an exact location of that call but traced it to Texas and traveled there to talk to a suspect, a department Facebook post said.
In an interview with Axios Columbus, Ken Trump, president of National School Safety and Security Services, a Cleveland-based consulting firm, said the increase in school threats after a high-profile school shooting “fits a pattern.”
“After every high-profile shooting, you see an uptick for at least a week or two,” Trump, said who isn’t related to the former president. “There’s a contagion effect where this spreads across the country.”
On Sept. 4, a 14-year-old shot and killed two students and two teachers at Apalachee High School in Winder, Georgia. Nine other people were injured.
Threat at Lake Norman High
The Iredell Sheriff’s Office said a screenshot referencing a threat of violence at Lake Norman High circulated on Sunday, Sept. 15.
A teenager created a fake document and tried to implicate another teen, and is now being charged in the juvenile court system with making a false report concerning mass violence on educational property and cyberbullying, the sheriff’s office said.
