Following threat, Harnett County ups security at schools

Sheriff Wayne Coats sent additional deputies to the school's campus. About seven officers could be seen in front of the building, and patrol cars occasionally circled the area.

School leaders said they were alerted to a threat, which was scribbled on a girls bathroom wall, that said there would be a mass shooting at the school on Feb. 20.

In response to the message, the recent shooting at a Florida high school and a flood of calls and messages to school leaders on social media, the sheriff and Superintendent Aaron Fleming went on the school system's Facebook page to tell parents what actions will be taken.

"[We plan] to put additional law enforcement into our schools that currently do not have some type of coverage with a school resource officer," Fleming said. "We're in the process of looking at that now. We believe that in the next few days we will be able to begin rolling that out."

Despite the added security, some parents, including Olivia Mangum, pulled their children out of school early.

"She started calling me as soon as she got on the bus this morning to let me know the bus was pretty empty and kids that are normally in school every day were not there today," Mangum said.

Her daughter, Astaria, said she heard two girls were going "to be shooting up the school."

"But like, they really didn't say that they actually knew who was going to shoot up the school. They just said it was in the girls bathroom," Astaria Mangum said.

Coats said after a shooting like the one in Florida, which killed 17 people, parents and students become paranoid.

"I think one of the statements I heard this morning was, 'Mommy, you're going to really send me off to school to get killed?'" he said.

Fleming said district officials are also looking to put together a working group of local law enforcement, which will include city and county leaders and first responders, to have them advise the school system on how to improve security at all Harnett County schools.

"Our staff, our students are trained in what to do in these situations. We have code red drills, so I believe we are as prepared as anyone is," he said.

It will cost about $50,000 to $75,000 to put school resource officers in all of the elementary schools for the remainder of the year, Fleming said.