Russellville school safety protocol on alert after social media threat, arrest

RUSSELLVILLE, Ark. – Police are continuing to investigate a social media threat made against Russellville Junior High School. Although there’s been an arrest, school officials are not completely letting their guard down and are maintaining their safety protocols.

Russellville police said a juvenile is in custody after investigators accused them of being behind a social media threat targeting a school.

Officials with the Russellville Police Department said Wednesday afternoon that officers had arrested the suspect after working with community members of authorities with the Russellville School District.

Deputy Superintendent Jeff Holt said police notified them of the post Friday night and then they warned parents.

“They gave a September date and are going to ‘light it up.’” Holt said. “You treat all of these threats very seriously.”

District Safety Director Terry Cobb said the threat caused them to follow their protocol meaning putting the district safety team on alert.

“We will reach out to our school resource officers, we have two sheriff deputies and 7 Russellville police officers in our city schools,” Cobb said.

Holt said the district has crisis management training every year.

“Our district and safety personnel have the opportunity to train with our law enforcement agencies,” Holt said.

Despite the arrest, police were still monitoring the school on Thursday. Some parents say with the measures in place they didn’t feel anxious about the threat.

“They have great support officers in the school and a great city police department,” Sherry Collins said. “I wasn’t worried.”

While others like Lisa Curran said she was glad the arrest happened but her concerns were not fully eased.

“I was really concerned. You never know they’re could be more people involved and it could still happen,” Curran said.

School officials say the safety of their students and staff is of the utmost importance.

FOX 16 News contacted Russellville police to ask if they believe more people may have been involved with the threat but they did not confirm that.

The juvenile police arrested is not being identified, but police officials said they would face charges in this matter.

Authorities said they will continue their investigation into this case and release any updates when they become available.

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