MPD responds to 13 calls of campus threats since school year began
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MEMPHIS, Tenn. – The deadly mass shooting in Minneapolis on Wednesday may bring back memories of the deadly shooting at the Covenant School in Nashville.
Like the school in Minneapolis, Covenant is a private Christian school. Six people, including three children, were killed at the school in 2023. Investigators say the shooter was a former student who shot through a door to get inside.
The mass shooting at Covenant sparked protests and a push for stricter gun laws in Tennessee. State lawmakers have since approved several school safety bills, but not any gun control measures. State Rep. G.A. Hardaway (D-Memphis) co-sponsored bills tackling school safety this past session, but he admits more needs to be done.
“The joy and promise of another school year is no longer there,” said Rep. Hardaway. “We’ve got to do a better job of getting to the cause of the problem. And that means addressing our mental health issues. Nothing stops that bullet if you don’t see it coming. So we need to look at how did we get here? And I would dare say that you can have not just a correlation, but a causation drawn between our relaxing of the gun laws and trying to get closer and closer to constitutional carry.”
One of the bills Rep. Hardway co-sponsored was HB 1314 which made threats of mass violence against schools and churches a felony. It’s a stiffer penalty parents say is a step in the right direction to protecting students.
“At this point that we are in the world right now, we have to take everything seriously,” said Melanie Miller, a parent and teacher in Memphis. “So I really do appreciate how they are cracking down, even on the ones, the threats that were made lightly. We can’t afford to take anything lightly. I definitely agree as a parent and a teacher that punishment should have become much harsher because it’s these things keep happening all over the U.S., the world in general, and safety is top priority. You know, our babies are our future. So it’s very important that they feel safe even when they don’t feel safe, you know, what else is left?”
Memphis Police told FOX13 that since Aug. 1, they’ve responded to 13 calls of campus threats. One happened Wednesday at Lester Prep Cornerstone in Binghamton. According to MPD, a student posted on his Instagram that “they’re shooting up the school at 12 during lunch time.” Police say when they questioned the student, he admitted making the post, saying he thought it would be funny.
MPD said no weapons were found at the student’s home. Officers issued a juvenile summons, and the student was expelled for the remainder of the school year.
“Please talk to your children about this particular law,” said Memphis-Shelby County Schools Board Member Tamarques Porter. “Make sure they understand even if the call is a so-called prank, that prank could change their lives forever.”
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