ROGERS COUNTY, Okla. -- Deputies are adding patrols at Sequoyah Public Schools after they said someone posted a message on social media threatening a student with a gun.
Deputies said the student's parents contacted them Sunday night after they became aware of the disturbing post. Maj. Coy Jenkins with the Rogers County Sheriff's Office said that that student did the right thing to tell someone.
"We take these kind of threats very, very seriously when it has to do with school," Maj. Jenkins said.
He said threats like this are uncommon, but the mention of a gun meant that deputies had to take every precaution necessary. Two deputies stayed at Sequoyah Mid-High School all day Monday because that's where the student who received the threat goes. The sheriff's office also sent deputies to patrol the area around the district.
"Anytime a child receives any type of disturbing message or any kind of contact that bothers them, they need to bring it to the attention of their parent, to an adult (or) to a member of the law enforcement community," Maj. Jenkins said. "It needs to be looked at, investigated and determined it's a real threat or not."
Neighbors said they're comforted that the sheriff's office took the extra precautions that it did given the seriousness of the threat.
"This is the first time I've ever heard of anything like that at Sequoyah," said Donna Reynolds, who had four children graduate from the district. "It's really sad."
"I hope they catch whoever's doing it," Tyler Chandler, a former student, added, "and they try to solve whatever problems they're having."
The Rogers County Sheriff's Office plans to maintain the additional presence of law enforcement at the district.
"We will not leave there, though, until we feel very comfortable that nothing exists at all," Maj. Jenkins said.
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