On a recent morning in a Campbell Middle School classroom, a student saw a video of somebody else threatening to shoot up several other Cobb County schools, he told school administrators.
The student said the threat mentioned the school the eighth grader went to last year — where his best friends still go — and his sister’s school.
This was Sept. 6, two days after four people were shot to death at Apalachee High School. The worst school shooting in Georgia’s history happened an hour away from Campbell Middle. In the days that followed, copycat threats flooded social media — spreading fear that any school could be next. To G.D., a 13-year-old with autism who’s been through lockdowns and active shooter drills, the threat he saw felt very real.
“He legitimately thought that person was going to follow up on those threats,” his father said in an interview with The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
How the Apalachee High School shooting unfolded
So G.D. messaged two friends, warning them not to go to lunch that day because there could be a shooting.