UNION COUNTY, S.C. (WSPA) — Social media posts directed at an elementary school in Union County have left parents concerned.
Sheriff Jeff Bailey said he and other officers received numerous phone calls and complaints Tuesday morning from parents worried about Facebook posts that suggested that students at Monarch Elementary School were not safe.
“Talking about kids and watching kids and waving at kids and loving kids,” Bailey said of the posts.
He said phones were ringing off the hook Tuesday morning.
“We checked all that out this morning,” he said. “It caused a big uproar in Union, really, because, you know, parents are worried about their kids.”
Authorities looked into the profile of the person allegedly making the posts.
“We come to find out that he didn’t make those posts. So, we’re dealing with another situation now,” Bailey said.
According to Bailey, the posts appear to have stemmed from a conflict between two people, and at about noon on Tuesday, he said investigators figured out who was behind the account.
“[It was someone] who had actually created a fake account and posted these posts stating this about kids, and all that, in order to try to incriminate somebody else,” Bailey said.
School officials told 7NEWS that nothing happened inside the school and that there is no threat.
Bailey had a message for worried parents and guardians.
“The children are safe, all these school resource officers are great,” he said. “They take care of those kids, and they can rest assured that we’re going to be there.”
Bailey said there are many measures in place to protect children in the county.
“We’re going to do everything in our power to make sure that they are taken care of, in all our schools,” Bailey said.
He said parents can rest assured that the situation will be handled. He said the next step is to talk to the solicitor about possible charges.