Airport High School receives bomb threats

by Mikenzy D.

In early February 2023, Airport High School has received many threats by someone who allegedly goes by the name “Billy” for the past 2 weeks. The school day has been interrupted multiple times due to evacuations and holds.

These threats were posted all over social media for students to see. One of the many threats stated, “12 They Not Stopping naorhinf Stuoid Wh**** 9-12 Airport first,” – “12 not stopping nothing." The number 12 allegedly represents the Lexington and Cayce police departments, who will be unable to stop the person making threats before responses from law enforcement are made.

Students are saying multiple other people are making copycat threats, due to threats continuing to be made, even though “Billy” was reported to be in custody.

Although the main school targeted was Airport, other threats towards schools in the state were also made via Snapchat and Instagram. Other schools affected by bomb threats in recent weeks include River Bluff High School and Lexington High School.

Mr. Samuels, a teacher at AHS says of one hold, “I think if we had made people go outside it would have been way more chaotic.” Students are disagreeing, saying it was chaotic as it is and they would have felt safer exiting the building.

Samuels also says, “These threats were made to give people 15 seconds of fame,” implying that they were made for popularity and to get people hyped up about something untrue, whether or not these alleged threats were true still remains unknown.

A student at AHS, Andy R., says, “I was mad, and I'm sure other students were mad as well,” when asked how he felt about the situation as a whole.

Overall, we can come to a conclusion that students and staff feel uneasy about these threats being made, especially being sent to school with no updates about the situation other than a few robot calls and emails sent out to stakeholders.

The recent bomb threats bring up the issue of school safety. Airport High School rated average for feeling safe at school according to the SC report card.

Go to the Lexington Police Department Facebook Page to learn more about charges and actions taken regarding this incident, or go to https://www.lex2.org/ to find copies of official press releases on the matter.