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

Officers from the FBI, the sheriff's office and every city and town in Wake County stood shoulder to shoulder during a news conference, demanding an end to the threats.

Back in April, at Holly Springs High School the alarm sounded. Nobody was allowed in the building, buses were forced to a halt while officers searched room to room for a bomb.

The fear was real, but the threat ended up being a hoax.

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"We take each and every threat very seriously," said Russ Smith, WCPSS senior director of security.

Most of the threats are posted online and warn of a mass shooting or bomb at a school, officials said.

Smith said the threats spike after tragedies.

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"Last year, after the deadly school shooting in Parkland, Florida, the Wake County Public School System saw a significant number of hoax threats within the following weeks. While we don't keep an exact number, there was well over a hundred," he said.

Each threat costs law enforcement agencies valuable time and money. In the schools, learning comes to a stop, and some students stay home out of fear.

"Hoax threats are not innocent. They are not funny, and they are not harmless. In fact, they can be dangerous," Smith said.

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Local law enforcement agencies want parents to talk with their children and to monitor them online.

They also want students to know making a hoax threat can get them suspended and arrested.

"This year, when we get a hoax coming in, somebody is going to be charged, whether we want to do it or not. Somebody is going to be charged because we have to stop this. It is costing too much money and disturbing too many classes," Wake Sheriff Donnie Harrison said.