PIKEVILLE, Tenn. — One by one Wednesday morning, students passed through metal detectors inside the front doors of Bledsoe County High School and had their bags screened through an X-ray machine.
Local authorities set up the devices Tuesday night after parents of several students complained of threatening messages sent to their children through a social networking site.
“We’re just doing extra security at the school to keep the kids safe,” Sheriff Jimmy Morris said.
Bledsoe County Schools Superintendent Phil Kiper said several parents called him Saturday to report their children had received threatening Facebook messages sent by an unfamiliar user.
Sheriff Morris said investigators found those who got notes were all in the same Spanish class. Two students have been questioned, he said.
Though 109 of the school’s 534 students were absent Wednesday, students who lined up to get back in the building at midday didn’t act worried.
Zach Downs, an 11th-grader, said the school was safe, “more than ever right now,” with all the added security.
Bledsoe County Detective Ricky Seals said only one of the two students of interest came to school Wednesday. The student and the parents were questioned, he said.
Mr. Kiper said FBI and Tennessee Bureau of Investigation agents helped by using technology to locate computers from which the threats could have been sent. Investigators took out the hard drive and sent it to Nashville for further investigation, Mr. Kiper said.
If authorities can prove the threatening messages came from a particular computer, an arrest can be made, he said.
“We hope an arrest will be made (today),” he said.