TX. School Locksdown For Shooting Threat on Facebook

Schools in Boyd, TX went into “lock down mode” after a threatening message on Facebook appeared from a 16-year-old boy. The message was actually about the game “Call Of Duty”, which the teen had been playing on XBox 360.

District Superintendent John Emshoff was quoted by the Wise County Messenger as saying, “Someone called one of our counselors this morning at 8 a.m. and said ‘There’s this thing on Facebook.’ We looked it up and it appeared to be a viable threat. So we notified the police and gave them all the information we had. The Boyd Police Department and the Sheriff’s Office went and took care of the situation.”

The message that concerned the school was regarding shooting people, “It’s time to go shoot some people in the face that I don’t know.” The message was placed on Facebook on Tuesday night, so it makes sense that the school and citizens would assume a shooting could happen on Wednesday.

A 16-year-old teen, who listed his hometown as Boyd, TX, was at the center of the investigation. He is not a student at the school, which makes the part about shooting those he doesn’t know credible.

Police contacted the teen’s parents, and went to his house. The message came about when the teen was playing the popular video game Call Of Duty. Can you guess what you do in the game? You shoot people. You can team up with players from around the world, virtual strangers, and play. The teen’s Call of Duty account is linked to his Facebook account. Someone reading the message assumed the teen was being serious, and wasn’t aware that the teen was playing a game.

Emshoff send out automated calls to parents that stated, “The safety of our students is always our priority. We apologize for any alarm the lockdown has caused.”

All of Boyd’s schools were locked down for about an hour while police investigated the Facebook statement. The schools were unlocked after police determined it was a big misunderstanding.

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