Campbell County, Amherst County high schools respond to threats

Charges pending for Amherst County High School threat

CAMPBELL COUNTY, Va.TUESDAY UPDATE

The Amherst County Sheriff's Office is charging a female student at Amherst County High with making a threat against the school. 

She allegedly made the threat because she didn't want to go to school that day. 

According to the sheriff's office, the school has to submit a daily head count of students who attended school. Because hundreds of students didn't go to school, the school lost funding. Restitution cost is approximately $21,000 in state and local aid, the sheriff said. 

The Campbell County Sheriff's Office said no criminal charges have been filed in the Brookville High threat. 

UPDATE

Eric Wooldridge’s stepdaughter attends Brookville High School. He learned on Facebook another student wrote threatening messages. 

"The threat that we got was of a student was gonna come in and shoot in the school. Those threats nowadays, they're taken a whole lot more seriously now than they were before because of the recent activity in the country."

Wooldridge had second thoughts about bringing his stepdaughter to school on Friday.
But after speaking with Campbell County deputies who were patrolling the area all day, "he assured me that there was plenty of backup here but that they had been on it since last night. He couldn't give details. He led me to believe that there were steps being taken,” Wooldridge said.

Over in Amherst County parents were seen picking up their children because they had an uneasy feeling. Students say there were several deputies in the hallways, and posted near every door.

“Well we got all the cops, that's good. It's just quiet, real quiet,” Cody Creamer, senior at Amherst High School, said. 
 
Amherst County Sheriff E.W. Viar says around 8:30 p.m. Thursday his school resource officer got wind of a threat made via Snapchat. 

"We got investigators pursuing with Snapchat now trying to find the source that it came from. We don't think it’s a substantial threat. But we got to treat all threats as if could be something to it,” Viar said.  

The sheriff wouldn't tell 10 News what was said, only that, "it was a threat made to certain people at the school,” Viar said.  

The sheriff said threatening a school is a Class 6 Felony and they are taking this very seriously. 

"We gonna charge the person that's making the threat. I already talked to the commonwealth attorney this morning,” Viar said.  
Campbell County schools released a statement on Facebook Friday evening saying a false social media post was made regarding the Campbell County Technical Center. 

ORIGINAL STORY

Two local schools are responding to threats. 

The Campbell County Sheriff's Office has investigated a threat to Brookville High School.

The threat is not credible, according to the sheriff's office. Parents say a student said they were going to shoot up the school. 

Schools will be on a normal schedule Friday with an increased police presence. 

Amherst County High School is also responding to a threat that was made via Snapchat. The threat was targeted at a certain group of people, according to the sheriff.

Superintendent Steven Nichols says the school will follow its crisis plan, which keeps students indoors and increases awareness. There will be an increased police presence as well. 

The Amherst County Sheriff's Office is working to determine the source of the threat. They say the threat is not credible and that deputies are at the school as a precautionary measure. They are planning to charge the individuals involved. 

Amherst County High School is on a regular schedule.