JMCSS official discusses Monday morning bomb threats

JACKSON, Tenn. — A bomb threat was reported at three Jackson-Madison County Schools Monday morning.

At 7:30 a.m., a school resource officer with the Madison County Sheriff’s Office was notified via social media of possible explosive devices located inside of North Side High School, Liberty Technology Magnet High School, and Northeast Middle School.

The Jackson Police Department responded to the threat, which led to students being evacuated and parents rushing to pick up their kids.

Greg Hammond, the Chief of Staff and the Public Information Officer for JMCSS, says the bomb threat received Monday morning has to be consider a real threat.

“We understand this to be a cyber or a digital threat because this is something that has been shared on image. So we just want to let everyone know our school administrators have to treat these situations like actual threats,” Hammond said.

Hammond says the staff and teachers responded to the threat according to protocol.

The students were evacuated to the football field and released one by one to their parents for dismissal.

“What our school administrators did was use safety protocols, whether that be a lock down or whether that be an evacuation,” Hammond said.

He says this is an ongoing problems that is happening throughout the United States.

Hammond says it’s difficult to pinpoint cyber threats because the origin is unknown.

“This is something that has been happening across the state and really across the nation when you get threats like these. It’s difficult because they’re not easily attributed to anyone because it’s an image that has been shared through a mobile device,” Hammond said.

He also says the prioritization of everyone’s safety will always come first when receiving a threat such as this.

“The safety of our students and our school, that’s very important for us and to us. That’s just a reminder that we all need to be careful and mindful when we share information, graphics and photos of this nature,” Hammond said.

This is the second bomb threat at North Side within one week. One was also reported last Thursday.

After a thorough search on Monday,  JPD Bomb Unit says there were no explosive devices found at any of the locations and that the investigation is still ongoing.

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