Apex Friendship High School investigating after threat written on restroom wall

Administrators at Apex High School and law enforcement officers are looking into the validity of a threat written on the walls of a girls' restroom at the campus that warned students not to show up for school on Friday because someone threatened to bring a gun and "hurt everything in my path."

Posted 7:18 p.m. Oct 16, 2019 — Updated 7:44 p.m. Oct 16, 2019

Alfred Charles

, WRAL.com managing editor

APEX, N.C. — Administrators at Apex Friendship High School and law enforcement officers are looking into the validity of a threat written on the walls of a girls' restroom at the campus that warned students not to show up for school on Friday because someone threatened to bring a gun and "hurt everything in my path."

The message on the wall of the Wake County public school, located at 7801 Humie Olive Road, appeared to have been written with a black marker and advised students to stay home for the day to avoid being injured.

"Sorry if I hurt you or your friends," someone had scrawled on the wall.

School officials told parents that they are actively looking into the threat and trying to determine who wrote it.

FBI, authorities, Wake Schools officials: Don't threaten our schools

"We take all threats to our school seriously. As soon as we were made aware of this message, we contacted the WCPSS Security Department and law enforcement," school Principal Matt Wight said in a letter to parents that was posted online. "They are both investigating to help us evaluate the credibility of the threat. While this appears to be a hoax threat, we are continuing to investigate to determine the parties responsible for making it. As with all threats, we will ask law enforcement and the courts to prosecute those responsible for committing this crime."

The message was reported sometime Wednesday morning to school administrators, but it was not clear who told school administrators about the post.

For the new school year, Wake County Public Schools, the state's largest district, launched a complete review of safety on its 191 school campuses.

And the state superintendent's office has launched a statewide tip line for people to anonymously report school safety threats and issues at junior and high schools.

At the start of the 2018 school year, Wake County school officials teamed with the FBI and local law enforcement officers to warn those who would consider threatening the schools and their students.

"We take each and every threat very seriously," Russ Smith, WCPSS senior director of security, said during that August 2018 news conference.

Tuesday night, drills by the Junior Reserve Officers' Training Corps at Northern High School prompted a lockdown when someone thought they saw a person on campus with a gun.

The JROTC group was participating in practice drills and no threat was found at the schoool

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