Investigators determined a social media threat to “shoot up” a Dunwoody school was not credible after they learned it came from someone outside of the country.
Dunwoody police became aware of the threat and immediately notified officers with the DeKalb County School District, police said Wednesday. It involved “an individual threatening to shoot up his school.”
“After our initial investigation, we found that the same IP address from outside the United States was used to post several similar threatening messages in various locations in the United States and Canada,” police said on Facebook. “At this time, we are confident there is no credible threat in Dunwoody.”
An IP address can be used to determine the location of a computer or where it was registered.
A social media monitoring company first reached out to Dunwoody police Tuesday, a spokesman for the department told Channel 2 Action News. A company representative referenced messages they had flagged on social media regarding school shootings in Canada and Dunwoody.
“There was a name on the message of a juvenile who resides in Dunwoody,” Sgt. Robert Parsons told the news station. “We found that juvenile and our detectives interviewed him. That investigation has so far cleared this juvenile of any wrongdoing.”
Dunwoody Elementary alerted parents of the investigation, DeKalb County School District spokesman Andre Riley told AJC.com.
“Until we could gather facts of the investigation, the school was placed on a very brief lockdown whereby all students remained in the building with all doors monitored and secured,” school officials told parents. “DCSD police did confirm that a full investigation was conducted and that there is not an immediate threat to the school.”
Austin Elementary, which is less than 3 miles from Dunwoody Elementary, was also taking special precautions, according to Channel 2. School officials told parents the school would exercise a low-level lockdown for the remainder of the week and monitor student activity in the hallways.
The investigation comes two days after two Cherokee County students were arrested on weapons charges. School police said the students, who are not being named because of privacy laws, brought unloaded guns inside River Ridge High School on Friday intended for use off campus after school.
MORE: Cherokee students arrested on weapons charges
Last week, five North Georgia schools investigated threats or incidents of weapons on campus. Two arrests were made in incidents involving Cobb County middle schools.
RELATED: 5 North Georgia school threats reported this week; 2 arrests made
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