VALDOSTA – An 11-year-old girl has been charged in connection with a shooting threat at Valdosta Middle School.

About 8 a.m. Friday, the Valdosta Police Department School Resource Officer at Valdosta Middle School received information that there was a threat on social media that someone was going to do a school shooting, the VPD said in a press release.  

The officer found an email address that was connected to the threat.  Through investigation and assistance from personnel with the Valdosta City Schools, the email address was found to belong to an 11-year-old female, who was enrolled at the middle school, police said.  

The student was in a classroom and removed from the class by school personnel. 

“The student’s mother responded to the school and the officer interviewed the juvenile,” the police statement said.  “During the interview, the juvenile stated that she was on a social media site, with other students. She said that she did make a comment about doing a school shooting, but she meant it as a joke.”

The juvenile was charged with terroristic threats (felony).  The Department of Juvenile Justice was contacted and advised that the juvenile could be released to her mother.

“We take all threats to our schools seriously, especially on the heels of what occurred Wednesday at Apalachee High School.  These threats are not jokes, and our department will take appropriate action,” said Valdosta Police Chief Leslie Manahan.

If anyone has any further information on this case or any other cases, please contact the Valdosta Police Department Bureau of Investigative Services at 229-293-3145, the crime tip line at 229-293-3091, or file a tip online at www.valdostacity.com/police-department.

Other area media are also reporting threats at schools in Brooks and Crisp counties. WALB is reporting the arrests of a 13-year-old in connection with a threat at Brooks County Middle School and a 17-year-old in connection with a threat at Crisp County High School.

The arrests come two days after a gunman killed four people and wounded nine others at Apalachee High School in Winder, Ga., and one day after a student in Thomasville was found with a gun at her school.