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Randolph County deputies to charge a juvenile suspect with felony for social media school threats

Randolph County deputies said more threats were made to Eastern Randolph High School late Sunday.

RANDOLPH COUNTY, N.C. — UPDATE: The juvenile suspect will be facing the charges of communicating a threat of Mass Violence on Educational Property, according to deputies.

A juvenile suspect could face charges for making a school shooting threat on social media in Randolph County, deputies said. 

Deputies said after being notified of a generic threat and violence toward schools, they discovered a separate threat towards Eastern Randolph High School.

Detectives have found the potential source of this threat and have conducted a search on the home of the juvenile who created the social media post. 

Deputies did not say how old the suspect is or if this person attends the school. 

Officials said other divisions are assisting School Resource Officers (SRO) at all Randolph County schools Monday. 

This is the third time this month that a Randolph County school has been targeted with a threat that turned out to be a hoax.

In this most recent case, investigators are pushing for a felony charge against the child. 

It'll be up to the Juvenile Justice System to determine whether the child will be charged.

Psychotherapist  Dr. Latoya Gathers said the way to prevent these threats is by getting the community involved. 

" A lot of it has to do with what's going on with them socially, their home life," Dr. Gathers said. 'We have to band together because one incident is not just that school incident or that parent incident it's community. Can we have more activities things for kids that are positive can we have events where we talk about social media?"

Dr. Gathers said withdrawing, slipping grades and new friend groups that cause trouble are signs parents need to have a deeper conversation because their child could be reaching a breaking point.

WFMY News 2 reached out to every school board member about any plans to increase school safety, but we haven't heard back.



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