Emily Nicole Wilson, left, was arrested Thursday night and charged with making a terrorist threat. On the right is the text message she allegedly sent Vinemont High School students Wednesday night. / Cullman County Sheriff's Office, contributed
VINEMONT – A Vinemont High School senior has been arrested in connection with a threat that she allegedly texted to students late Wednesday night. The text prompted extra security at the school on Thursday. Emily Nicole Wilson, 18, was arrested Thursday night and charged with making a terrorist threat.
The Tribune obtained a photo of the text message Wilson allegedly sent under the fake user name "rhayes605." It read, "2/22/18 (f**k) all y'all mfrs" and contained a gun emoji. The text was sent to students at Vinemont High School. The text was sent using the app TextNow.
In a joint press conference held by Cullman County Sheriff Matt Gentry and Cullman County Schools Superintendent Shane Barnette, Gentry said that Wilson's reasoning for sending the threat was that she needed more time to study for a test.
In a separate incident on the same night, an online threat was made against Good Hope High School. Authorities tracked down the source of that threat, a GHHS student. That student, a minor, was taken into custody Thursday as well. Because the student is a minor, his identity has not been released.
“We have that person in custody now,” said Barnette. “It was a young person that made a poor decision. He thought he was being funny. And I talked to him and his family this morning and he thought–he’d seen other stuff like it on Facebook and other places; and he thought he’d go on there and try to be funny.
“We’ve got his attention. It’s not funny. He’s been turned over to authorities, and it’s up to them what they do with him from that standpoint. And he has withdrawn from our school system. If he decides to come back to our school system, there’ll be punishment from the school system’s standpoint; but right now, we’re letting the authorities handle that.”
Both threats led to increased security on the campuses of Cullman County schools, and even a soft lockdown for Cullman City schools.
Full press conference
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