A 15-year-old freshman at Claiborne High School in Tazewell has been charged with making a false report and disrupting a meeting after authorities said he admitted to writing a threatening note to his school around noon Thursday.
According to Claiborne County Sheriff David Ray, the note, which was obtained by the school resource officer and the assistant principal, made threats to kill students and teachers beginning Friday morning.
The student stated he did not mean to hurt anyone and it was his way to get out of school, investigators said.
"Because of the world we live in today, threats such as these are taken very seriously. Protecting the children of Claiborne County and the teachers who teach them is my top priority. People who choose to threaten others by whatever means, will be thoroughly investigated, arrested and prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law," Sheriff Ray said.
The sheriff's office said Juvenile Judge Robert Estep ordered the student be placed into custody and held at the Richard L. Bean Juvenile Detention Center in Knoxville. He's set to be transferred back to Claiborne County next Monday for a detention hearing.
Since a shooting February 14 at a Florida high school killed 17 students, there have been at least 10 arrests of students in East Tennessee and Southeast Kentucky for making threats.