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SOUTHAVEN, Miss. — Students heading to class Thursday morning were greeted by a large police presence at Southaven Middle after online chatter suggested someone was going to “shoot up” the school. The Southaven Police Department notified school officials after several concerned parents called to report the social media posts, which stated a group of students was planning on bringing guns to school.
Desoto County Schools emailed WREG a statement that said in part, “Even though there did not appear to be any credibility to the post, the Southaven Police Department provided extra security at Southaven Middle School and Southaven High School Thursday morning as a precautionary measure.” One parent WREG spoke to said the school failed to notify parents about the social media threats, even though they knew about it yesterday. Southaven Police released a statement Thursday evening saying that, despite rumors of gunshots at Southaven High School, no weapon was found. The statement read: “This afternoon, a SHS student brought 3 other juveniles to the school where it was rumored that they may have had words with some of the athletes on the soccer field. It was rumored that after the vehicle left, that there was a loud noise that it was believed to be gunshots. Witnesses were interviewed and Officers located the 4 juveniles and interviewed them as well. There was no gun located. “No active threats were ever determined.”