Eufaula schools closed today under ‘advisement of the Eufaula Police Department’

UPDATE 4:45 p.m. — More information has been confirmed regarding the “critical threat” made against Eufaula High School Wednesday afternoon.

While the nature of the violent threat has not been released, Eufaula Mayor Jack Tibbs says it was directed at the high school and was a cause for great concern.

“Any time you get a threat like this, I mean, it’s a joint effort between the schools and the police department here,” Tibbs said. “You know, we’re going always to move immediately to keep all the students safe. So, shutting the school down until we knew more about the situation is what they did.”

The chain of events started at about 7:30 p.m. CT when the principal of Eufaula High School, Emily Jackson, received what Tibbs says was a “critical threat.”

School Superintendent Patrick Brannan Jr. and Eufaula Police Chief Danny Christ were alerted and a decision was made to close the five Eufaula public schools. Crist asked officials at Lakeside, a private school located adjacent to Eufaula High, to cancel classes. The Lakeside administration did just that.

Tibbs says one of the underlying factors in the abundance of caution was the juvenile suspected of sending the threatening email was not located and taken into custody until this afternoon.

Eufaula Police say the juvenile in question and one other person were brought in for questioning, but there is no word yet on possible charges.

Students in the Eufaula City System and Lakeside are scheduled to be back in class as normal tomorrow.

“You hear about some of these shootings where, you know, the shooter was on the radar previously and then then all of a sudden they have done a terrible thing. So, I think that might have been the case with the one in Georgia yesterday. You definitely got to in my opinion when you get someone on the radar, you got to stay after them until you resolve that that threat.”

Eufaula Mayor Jack Tibbs

UPDATE 10:00 a.m. ET : Eufaula Mayor Jack Tibbs has confirmed to WRBL that a “critical threat” was made Wednesday afternoon against Eufaula High School.

Tibbs says the threat came from an unnamed juvenile and was made via email to the Eufaula High School principle.

Eufaula P.D. was immediately alerted and Tibbs made the recommendations to close schools.

Stay with WRBL.com for updates on this developing story.

EUFAULA, Ala. ( WRBL ) — Schools in Eufaula, Ala., have cancelled classes for Thursday.

The Eufaula City School System and Lakeside School sent out social media messages Thursday night calling off classes and extra-circular activities including athletic practices and events.

There are five city schools in Eufaula, three elementary-age schools, a middle school and a high school.

A statement from the Eufaula City System stated, “ECS is working with the Eufaula Police Department and will provide more information as soon as possible.”

Lakeside, a private school located adjacent to Eufaula High School on Old Creek Town Road, also issued a social media statement.
“Due to circumstances out of our control, the Lakeside School will be closed tomorrow under the advisement of the Eufaula Police Department,” the Lakeside statement read in part.

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