Auto-correct prompts school lockdown

Nervous police and school officials locked down two adjacent Georgia
schools for two hours Wednesday after hearing a report about a text
message that seemed to warn of a gunman present on campus, reports the
Gainesville Times.

What appeared to be a threat to West Hall middle and
high schools in Gainesville, however, turned out to be an errant
auto-corrected text sent to a wrong number, the police discovered. The
text, which police traced to a student, read "gunman be at west hall
today," instead of the intended "gunna be at west hall today." Further,
the community member who reported what seemed to be a threatening text
was not the intended recipient.

The lockdown comes three days after a school shooting at Chardon High
School in Ohio, in which three students were killed. Authorities told
the Gainesville newspaper that the person who reported it "did the right
thing."

"It was a combination of odd circumstances," Sgt. Stephen Wilbanks of
the Hall County Sheriff's Department, told the paper. "We want to
emphasize that the recipient did the right thing in reporting the
message."The lockdown at both schools, which began before noon and ended
at 1:45 p.m., was "standard procedure," according to a statement from
West Hall Superintendent Will Schofield.

"I am extremely proud of our
school team members as they handled a challenging situation well," he
said. "While this event caused a great deal of anxiety among students,
staff and parents, be assured that we will always err on the side of
caution when it comes to the safety of our boys and girls."

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