Lexington Police spent several hours clearing Northside Christian Academy on Nov. 18 in response to a social media rumor that there was a man with a weapon on campus. The threat was revealed to be unfounded.

“We were able to have a conversation with the student that started the rumor. And he confirmed it was a hoax,” said Sgt. Cameron Mortenson, the department’s public information officer.

Police responded to the school at about 4:20 p.m. after a parent saw the Snapchat post spreading the rumor and called it in. Officers immediately locked down the school, conducting a room-by-room search and bringing approximately 150 students, staff and faculty outside to the parking lot.

“Obviously what happened was very unfortunate and what started off a prank just imploded,” Scott Crede, executive pastor and head of schools for Northside Church and the attached Northside Christian Academy, told the Chronicle. “I was very proud of our staff and all of our families, the way the way that it was handled, I think it was handled very, very well.”

Mortenson said that the rumor started at about 3:50 p.m. with a post from a student at Northside before other students there and at nearby River Bluff High School began sharing it.

“This is really a reminder for parents to have really serious conversations with your student-aged children about social media and the responsibilities that come with it,” Mortenson said. “Too often, we’re having a real response, both on the school side or law enforcement side, to students that are thinking that something’s a joke. We have to treat this seriously. Thank goodness it wasn’t, you know, real this afternoon, but it’s treated as such. There’s consequences for it.”

What those consequences will be is as yet unclear. Mortenson said that charges are likely for multiple students, but that acquiring search warrants for the social media platforms involved and then untangling the motivations of the students who shared the post will take time.

“It’s gonna come down to our investigators looking at it to see who all was involved and what their involvement was,” Mortenson explained. “Were they perpetrating that threat and trying to share that with others? Or was it simply they were trying to notify so the law enforcement could respond?”

Crede said the results of ongoing investigations would dictate whatever punishments are issued on the school’s end. He added that Northside does not allow students to use their phones during school hours, and it appears the student who sent the initial post did so away from campus.

“It’s very difficult for us to to to address a child that’s off the campus,” Crede said. “However, when someone posts something about the school, obviously the school’s involved, especially when it comes to something like this.”

As to the size of the police response, which dotted the school’s large front parking lot with flashing blue lights, Mortenson said this is standard for such a threat, and that fortuitous timing allowed them to muster a particularly ample force.

“Our school resource officers were just coming off their shifts, and so they immediately responded,” he said. “In a situation like this where we’re searching classrooms, and we also have officers in the parking lot to be there for parents that are arriving. So we have to set up a perimeter. It’s really important for us to have as many officers as possible.”