Bristol schools up security in face of online threat

Published 10:35 am Wednesday, November 20, 2019

BRISTOL, Va. (AP) — Schools in Bristol, Tenn., and Bristol, Va., upped security after a vague threat about bringing a gun to a Bristol school was posted online over the weekend.

Bristol, Virginia, police Sgt. Steve Crawford tells news outlets the threat was posted on Snapchat by an area middle school student who has since been questioned by authorities. He says the student will be charged. Bristol Virginia School Superintendent Keith Perrigan said he plans to recommend the student be expelled.

A Bristol, Virginia, school system statement says one of its students reported the threat on Sunday. At that point, the poster was unknown and the threat seemed “generic,” not specifying which district the school was in. Virginia officials alerted their counterparts in Bristol, Tenn. Both districts had increased law enforcement presence on Monday.

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