Parents, students and staff at Winona Secondary School were alarmed on the morning of March 9 due to a threat made to the school.
“Winona-Montgomery School District has received information about a text message sent to a student threatening violence at the secondary school today,” stated a message sent out to parents from Superintendent Dr. Teresa Jackson in a social media post. “The WMCSD Police Department, along with law enforcement officers are working diligently to determine the origination of the threat. Students and staff are safe and law enforcement will be present throughout the day.”
In a message sent to the newspaper from an undisclosed source, the apparent threatening message stated, “Aye I just want to tell you don’t go to school tomorrow. I will be shooting up the school and I don’t give no f$@# about anyone that’s going to be there. It will happen at 10:30 a.m.”
Law enforcement could be seen patrolling at the school in the morning as students were coming into school.
WMCSD Police Chief Mac Burrell said in an interview that law enforcement had not yet discovered who was behind the threat. He also reinforced Jackson’s message, saying “Every cop in this entire county is sitting on school property, and I’ve got parents checking their kids out.”
In a later interview, Burrell stated that no attempt to carry out the threat was made. He also said that the search to discover the individual who made the threat is a continuing investigation.
Winona Secondary School Principal Donna Bishop and Jackson were unavailable for comment.
