UPDATE (Wednesday, 11:56 a.m.): The Levy County Sheriff’s Office (LCSO) sent a release stating Levy County School Resource deputies and Levy County School Board officials determined that no threat was directed toward any school in Levy County on Wednesday.
Chiefland Middle/High School and Chiefland Elementary School have been released from the “secure campus” status and are now back on a normal schedule.
Original story (posted on Wednesday at 10:20 a.m.):
The Chiefland middle/high and elementary schools have been placed on “secure campus” status Wednesday morning while law enforcement investigates threatening social media posts.
According to a Levy County Sheriff’s Office (LCSO) release, Chiefland Middle/High School received multiple calls related to threatening social media posts from a neighboring school district. The posts relayed potential school security threats.
Extra LCSO deputies and Chiefland Police Department officers are currently on campus investigating the threats. The release stated there is no evidence indicating a valid threat at this time.
The threats come after three teenagers were arrested over the past three days in Columbia and Madison counties following social media threats to schools in both counties.
On Sunday, the Columbia County Sheriff’s Office (CCSO) tracked down a 13-year-old Madison County boy who posted social media threats to schools in Madison and Columbia counties.
That preceded arrests on Monday and Tuesday of two teenagers – 17-year-old Christopher Smith Jr. and 14-year-old Mya Jenkins – who posted social media threats involving Fort White High School.
The social media school threats have come days after 14-year-old Colt Gray killed two students and two teachers and injured nine others in a shooting on Sept. 4 at Apalachee High School in Winder, Georgia.
From August 2021 to September 2023, there have been dozens of social media threats at schools throughout North Central Florida. The most recent came on Sept. 18, 2023, when a 13-year-old was arrested for emailing bomb threats to Buchholz High School and Kanapaha Middle School in Gainesville.
Editor’s note: This is an ongoing story and will be updated as information becomes available.