Hacked student email threatens high school

FLEMING COUNTY, Ky. (WTVQ) – Late Sunday night, Fleming County High School had quite the scare when students and parents reported seeing an email and social media posts threatening a school shooting, said to happen on Monday.

“We take it incredibly serious,” says Fleming County High School Principal Stephanie Emmons. “You know, all, any type of accusation or any type of threat is going to be investigated to the maximum extent possible.”

Fleming County High School’s School Resource Officer is an officer for the Flemingsburg Police Department, as well as being a retired Kentucky State Police Detective and investigator of Internet Crimes against Children. Flemingsburg Police says Officer Brian Cooper used his experience to take the lead on the case.

According to police, the threat came from a hacked student email account. Police say the hacker is a 14-year-old girl at the school, however, police determined the threat wouldn’t be acted upon. Fleming County High School says it still had a heavy police presence on campus Monday morning to help students and parents feel safer.

“You know, we’re blessed to have such a wonderful community and student population that they are always eager to let us know very quickly so that we can act quickly just to make sure our school is as safe as possible,” says Emmons.

At this time, police and the school won’t release the student’s motive as it’s still an open criminal investigation. The school says it will be taking maximum action against the student as outlined in its student handbook. Police say the 14-year-old will be charged with 2nd degree terroristic threatening, which is a felony.

“Our students have listened to what we told them to do: report something when you see something,” says Flemingsburg Police Chief Brian Bowling. “That’s the most important thing, let’s get in front of this thing.”

“Students make mistakes and you know that’s part of the educational process is for our students, they know to make mistakes but also to take this as a learning opportunity to better themselves for the future,” says Emmons.