Authorities in Georgia on Thursday arrested a 15-year-old for referencing the Apalachee High School shooting and threatening to attack another school, the Jackson County Sheriff’s Office said.
The alleged threat came as neighboring Barrow County was still picking up the pieces after Wednesday’s deadly school shooting, which claimed the lives of four people and hospitalized nine others.
The Jackson County teen made his remarks “on the bus from one school to another school” in the county, the sheriff’s office said.
“It was reported that a 15-year-old male made statements about the Apalachee shootings and was planning on finishing the job to shoot another school in Jackson County,” authorities said in a statement. “There were witnesses to the statements that were made.”
The boy was interviewed at the sheriff’s office, charged and detained at the Youth Detention Center in Gainesville, the sheriff’s office said, adding the investigation was ongoing.
Officials encouraged the public to report any suspicious “persons, crimes or other relevant information” and urged anyone who was hesitant to use the sheriff’s anonymous tip line.
Two students and two teachers were killed Wednesday and dozens more wounded when 14-year-old Colt Gray opened fire at Apalachee High School in Winder, roughly 50 miles northeast of Atlanta. Gray has been charged with four counts of felony murder and will be tried as an adult.
His father, Colin Gray, was charged on Thursday with four counts of involuntary manslaughter, two counts of second-degree murder and eight counts of cruelty to children, authorities said. Authorities were planning to share additional details on the charges during a Thursday night press conference.
Two family members told The New York Times that the teen had a troubled home life and “did what he did because of the environment that he lived in.”