A Cookeville High School student was taken into custody Thursday for making threats of mass violence towards faculty and students.
Putnam County Sheriff Eddie Farris said his office responded to the school after the school’s administration was concerned about the threats being made. Farris said he has learned that this is not the first time the student has made similar threats.
“We consulted with the district attorney’s office and the judge’s office, and we ended up removing the kid from school, and he is in Juvenile detention at this time,” Farris said.
Farris said it is still unknown what prompted the student to make the threats. The student has been charged with a threat of mass violence. Farris said his office takes all school threats seriously.
“As a sheriff, and a sheriff’s office, and a community and a school system, we can take chances on a comment being something that someone says, and they just don’t mean it. We have got to drill down and get to the bottom of it.”
Farris said school threats are not something to joke about or kid about. Several School threats have been made already this school year across the Upper Cumberland. Farris said he hates to do it, but parents are to blame.
“Ultimately, you know, a child is under 18, the parents are responsible for that child’s actions,” Farris said. “It’s the parents’ job to make sure that the kid and the child understand the things that they can’t do at school. So I just don’t think the parents are having this kind of conversation with their child as much as they should.”