Elizabethton student charged with false reporting

ELIZABETHTON, Tenn. (WJHL) — An Elizabethton High School student was charged with false reporting after allegedly claiming to have been responsible for an online threat to Happy Valley High School.

A joint press release from Elizabethton City Schools and the Elizabethton Police Department stated that investigators were at Elizabethton High School on Thursday looking into social media threats.

While there, investigators were informed of a Snapchat from a student who claimed to have made a threat to Happy Valley High School. The student had reportedly sent screenshots from Facebook with pictures of weapons from the Happy Valley threat.

Police determined the Elizabethton High student who claimed to have made the threat had actually just taken screenshots and then spread them on Snapchat. The student claimed to have done it as a “joke,” the news release stated.

“This ‘joke’ was not an additional threat but did create further alarm,” the release states.

“That was determined that the student did that as a joke among the students to claim responsibility for the original post,” Elizabethton Police Chief Jason Shaw said on Friday. “So at that point, it was determined that individual would be charged with filing a false report to that post and claims.”

The Elizabethton student was issued a summons to appear in Carter County Juvenile Court and charged with false reporting, a felony.

On Friday, an accidental fire alarm activation led to first responders to arrive at Happy Valley and caused a temporary lockdown. All parts of the school were searched and cleared of any fire or threat, according to the Carter County Sheriff’s Office.

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