A 13-year old Winn Parish juvenile was charged late Wednesday evening last week with making terroristic threats to a school, according to Winn Parish Sheriff Josh McAllister.  The two juveniles were being held locally.

He stated that his office opened an investigation late Tuesday afternoon, September 10, following social media posts concerning possible threats to Winn Parish schools.

It was determined Wednesday that these posts were initially made by six juveniles in Alabama and were shared across several states.  Those juveniles were arrested by Alabama authorities.

A second social media post appeared here late Wednesday and the Sheriff stated his office began another investigation.    Sheriff’s investigators were able to determine the second post originated from an Instagram account inside the city limits of Winnfield.

The Sheriff went on to say that a second 13-year old Winn Parish juvenile was charged early Thursday morning with making terroristic threats to a school.  During the interview with the first juvenile, another threat was made around 9:45 p.m. Wednesday. After midnight Thursday morning, the WPSO was able to make contact with the second juvenile and ultimately charge him.

There are no threats on social media that the Sheriff’s Office is aware of at this time. Due to the circumstances and threats, there was a heavy presence of law enforcement personnel at the schools for the remainder of last week. School resource officers are on duty this week.

Sheriff McAllister continues to ask parents to please monitor their children’s social media accounts. The sheriff and deputies will be in the schools over next couple of weeks educating students of the laws and consequences of bad decisions concerning social media. 

He thanked the community for patience and understanding while these threats were thoroughly investigated. He also thanked his investigators and deputies for their work and extra hours during this time.  He stated that the Louisiana State Fusion Center and Instagram personnel assisted his office in the investigation. 

“These types of social media threats are common and this office has investigated several threats that did not involve schools.  Oftentimes, juveniles see these posts and begin either copying them or joining in on the social media stream.  Most of these threats are not credible but each one has to be taken seriously,” McAllister concluded.