ONLY ON WCCB: Parents Say School Waited Too Long To Tell Them About Violent Online Threat

GASTON COUNTY, NC – Parents are upset after they say their kids’ school delayed telling them about a violent online threat.

An anonymous post threatened violence at Mountain Island Charter School in Gaston County Monday Morning.

“Why was this thing not taken more seriously? I mean there should have been immediate notification,” says parent Scott Owens.

He says his daughter was the one who alerted him about the threat.

“Basically said that there was an online threat posted at one of those, I think it’s called Lipsi, anonymous sites,” Owens says.

Parents say the threat read, “Tomorrow everybody that goes to Mountain Island is going to feel my wrath at the end of first period,” and showed emojis of a gun and a casket.

Others say they found out when parents started posting their concerns on Facebook.

“The original post came out around 10:15 last night. Nobody was notified, even this morning, until I think 9:00, the school finally sent us an e-mail notification, no phone calls anything else,” Owens says.

Parents say that’s after first period would have been over.

Owens took his kids out early, but says he wouldn’t have sent them to school at all if he had been notified earlier.

“When things like that occur, we immediately contact law enforcement,” says Mountain Island Charter School’s Executive Director Justin Matthews.

He defended the school’s actions, telling WCCB Charlotte police deemed the threat not credible.

“Law enforcement was here very, very early, well before first period,” Matthews said.

WCCB Charlotte asked him if parents should have been alerted earlier.

“We, you know, once law enforcement takes over, we follow their lead. And clearly, you can’t over-communicate, and these things happen in real time,” Matthews said.

WCCB Charlotte also asked Matthews how many parents took their kids out of school early Monday.

“Um, I would say more than 10 and fewer than a hundred,” Matthews said.

Owens and other parents posting on Facebook say they want the school to communicate quicker, no matter how serious the threat.

Gaston County Police say they have not identified the person who posted it.

They say it appears to be a hoax and may have been posted by someone outside the state.