Prank call to Academies of West Memphis leads to arrest of student

Threat about gun on campus causes school to go on lockdown

By Ralph Hardin

news@theeveningtimes.com

it’s a scene that has become all too common in recent years — a local school going into lockdown over a possible threat.

At one time in our nation’s history, it was not uncommon for a school somewhere to receive a “bomb threat” — almost always simply a prank call by a student hoping to skip out on a test, get some time out of class or just impress his friends. But for the past 25 years, ever since the Columbine High School Massacre in Colorado in 1999, fake bomb threats have become more frequently replaced by fake gun threats

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Submitted photo PRANK

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— and unfortunately far too often those threats have turned out to be very real.

With school shooting still happening at an alarming rate — in places across the U.S., from Sandy Hook, Connecticut to Uvalde, Texas, to just up the highway in Jonesboro — any possible threat on a school campus must be taken seriously.

Such was the case this past Tuesday when a West Memphis high school student was arrested after being caught in a class making a prank call to get the school placed on lockdown.

The West Memphis Police Department received a call from the Academies of West Memphis at about 11 a.m.

The student told the 911 dispatcher in Crittenden County that another student was armed with a gun.

Police arrived at the school and found the student who made the call and determined the call was a prank.

The lockdown was lifted in time for lunch service. As for the prank caller, the student was charged with causing a false alarm and other charges. The unidentified male juvenile is now in the custody of Crittenden County juvenile authorities.