HENRICO COUNTY, Va. (WRIC) — Two Henrico seventh graders are facing charges for a false active shooter prank at Holmon Middle School on Tuesday.
Families of Holmon Middle School students were panicked on Tuesday, April 18 after learning that the school had gone into a lock and hide when an active shooter announcement was made from inside the school. But the families later learned that the threat was a prank.
Henrico County Public Schools Superintendent Dr. Amy Cashwell says that even if the announcement was meant as a joke, they are not taking the threat lightly.
“It’s incredibly upsetting,” Cashwell said. “Certainly, anyone knowingly making a false accusation or threat, there are serious consequences.”
Henrico Police said that the announcement was made over at least one radio by two seventh grade students, a boy and a girl.
After the two students were identified, they were issued a juvenile violation report for falsely summoning law enforcement. According to Virginia Law, someone who falsely summons or gives false reports to law enforcement “shall be punishable as a Class One misdemeanor.”
There is no word yet on whether the students will face additional disciplinary action in school.
It is still unknown how the students were able to get ahold of the device to make the announcement in the first place.
On the day of the lock and hide, police and fire crews worked with Henrico Schools to sweep the building and make sure there was no ongoing threat to the students or the community, Cashwell says following this incident, the school will conduct an after action review to measure the effectiveness of their response.
“Once we have resolved the matter, we are going to take time to look back and do an after-action review and have conversations about what went well and you know, where are areas we can strengthen our response times,” Cashwell said. You know in a real actual situation no matter how much you practice; things may unfold differently.”
The school district is now urging parents and guardians to have open conversations with their students about the dangers these types of threats can cause.
