Authorities in Barrow County are adding patrols to Bramlett Elementary School through the end of the school year amid multiple threats that have been made against the school in recent weeks.
Barrow County Sheriff Jud Smith said the first threat came almost two weeks ago when the Barrow County School System received an email alleging that explosive devices had been placed in the school near Auburn.
"We began working with GEMA and FEMA and determined that the actual threatening email was traced back to Nigeria," Smith said. "We've been working with them since then to try to determine if this was, in fact, spoofed."
Smith said while that threat was being investigated, the sheriff's office sent additional school resource officers to the school to check the building. Smith then said another threatening email was received Tuesday.
"We've been doing sweeps of the school, we're going to continue to do that, and obviously our number one priority is the safety of the kids and the staff there," Smith said. "We think that this is just another very sick attempt to try to disrupt the schools."
Smith said the threats are believed to have been sparked by a controversial video that was shown to a class at the school earlier this month. The video was posted to an X account called "Libs of TikTok" with the caption: "This extremely bizarre video was shown to 4th graders at Bramlett Elementary School in Georgia. It depicts a dog who thinks he's a cat to promote LGBTQ inclusivity and acceptance."
"The video was deemed inappropriate by some parents. They went to the school and spoke to the school about it. The school said that it would not be shown again," Smith said. "Someone leaked that video."
The first threat was reportedly made the day after the X post.
Smith said the added patrols at Bramlett Elementary School will continue until the end of the school year at the request of the county school system.
