COBB COUNTY, Ga. — A judge reversed the expulsion of a Cobb County middle school student who warned his peers about a school shooting threat.
The student, referred to as G.D. to protect his identity, was 13 years old at the time and has autism. He texted two friends about a threat he believed was real, which led to a lockdown at Campbell Middle School.
Attorney Claire Sherburne from the Southern Poverty Law Center, who represented G.D., told Channel 2 Cobb County Bureau Chief Michele Newell that the student was afraid and believed the threat to be real.
The incident happened over a year ago, days after the Apalachee High School shooting.
“At that time there’s lots of copycat threats,” Sherburne said. ”They are rampant on social media.”
She said G.D. saw a video of a threat against several middle schools in Cobb County and acted out of fear. Despite not being accused of making the threat, G.D. was expelled for causing a disruption.
“He’s definitely behind academically as a result of that experience and then he’s also just lost the trust that he used to have in school and the adults at the school,” Sherburne said. “Cobb county is also one of the larger districts in Georgia, but their reliance on expulsions is particularly high.”
The Cobb County School District said it could not comment on specific facts in the case but sent a statement on general hoax threats:
“Each investigation of hoax threats costs local and district staff extensive time and money and leads to a significant uptick in student absences. The district has and will continue to take every threat to our schools seriously.”
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