Alleged threat against Chelsea High School ‘deemed unfounded,’ sheriff’s office says

After receiving information on an alleged threat against Chelsea High School on Monday, the Shelby County Sheriff’s Office today posted that the threat was “deemed unfounded.”

In a Facebook post from around 1:30 p.m. on Tuesday, the Sheriff’s Office said investigators, deputies and specially trained school resource officers “responded immediately and after a thorough investigation, the threat was deemed unfounded.” Even with that finding, the sheriff’s office followed up on the threat “out of an abundance of caution,” the post continued, and investigators conducted interviews about the origin of the threat.

The sheriff’s office post came following parents and community members voicing their concerns on social media. Posts to Facebook said that parents had not been notified of the potential threat, although the sheriff’s office said it had not posted anything “because we were assured the school would notify parents.”

Chelsea High School Principal Wayne Trucks posted to the “Trucks’ Stop” segment of chelseabuzz.com on March 12, stating the school was aware of rumors of a “potentially troubling situation” and had reached out to the sheriff’s office.

“Beginning last night and increasingly today, misinformation about the threat on local social media platforms has caused undue alarm to students and is concerning to parents,” the sheriff’s office said on Facebook. “While we cannot stop that, we hope that this corrects some of the information being shared.”

Concerned parents can reach out to the sheriff’s office directly with those concerns, the post continued.

“We take all of these threats seriously, and if anything changes with this one, you will hear it from us first,” the post said.