Rockdale County High School and Heritage High School were placed on lockdown Tuesday after separate bomb threats prompted a joint response from local law enforcement, though investigators say they have found no immediate evidence that either threat is credible. The Conyers Police Department and the Rockdale County Sheriff's Office moved quickly to search both campuses as classes were disrupted for students and staff.
According to FOX 5 Atlanta, both schools were locked down as a precaution while the sheriff's office investigated a safety threat made toward each campus. Law enforcement urged the public to avoid the areas surrounding both high schools while officers searched the buildings, the station reported. As of Tuesday afternoon, no arrests or charges tied to the threats had been announced.
A Pattern of Disruptions in Rockdale County
Tuesday's lockdowns are not an isolated incident for the district. In April, Salem High School — one of Rockdale County's three main traditional high schools — was evacuated after deputies investigated a separate safety threat, according to the same outlet's earlier reporting. Salem, Rockdale County High, and Heritage High together serve a district that includes more than 14,500 students across 18 traditional and non-traditional schools, per Rockdale County Public Schools, located roughly 22 miles east of Atlanta.
The district has also seen threats result in criminal charges before. In February 2025, the Rockdale County Sheriff's Office arrested and charged a 15-year-old student with two felony counts of terroristic threats and misdemeanor disruption of school after investigating threatening social media posts made against a local high school. That threat occurred over winter break and prompted heightened security across all county middle and high schools at the time.
Extra Deputies Already Stationed on Campus
Heritage High and Salem High have carried additional law enforcement staffing since the 2022-2023 school year, when the sheriff's office assigned a second deputy to each campus, bringing coverage to two deputies per high school. The initiative, established jointly by Sheriff Eric Levett and Superintendent Dr. Terry Oatts, was created in response to national school safety concerns.
Rockdale County's recent history of threats fits a broader trend playing out across Georgia school districts this year. Hoodline reported on a 14-year-old detained after a Morgan County school threat earlier this month, and covered a similar case involving a former student charged after a threat at a Butts County middle school in late July.
What Georgia Law Says About School Threats
Under Georgia Code § 16-11-37, making a terroristic threat is typically charged as a misdemeanor, but it escalates to a felony punishable by one to five years in prison if the threat involves death or causes a building evacuation or major public disruption such as a school lockdown, according to the Frye Law Group. Georgia law also requires corroborating evidence beyond victim testimony to secure a conviction. Separately, under Georgia Code § 20-2-1181, anyone who disrupts or interferes with the operation of a public school is guilty of a misdemeanor of a high and aggravated nature, according to the Georgia Emergency Management and Homeland Security Agency.
State lawmakers have moved aggressively in recent years to deter hoax threats and school disruptions. In April 2025, Governor Brian Kemp signed House Bill 268 into law, requiring school districts to form behavioral threat management teams, mandating prompt law enforcement reporting of student threats, and creating school-specific threat offenses — a measure passed following the mass shooting at Apalachee High School in Barrow County the previous September, as reported by The Guardian. Lawmakers have also targeted hoax emergency calls directly: the Georgia State Senate passed Senate Bill 421 in February 2024 to increase penalties for false emergency reports and swatting incidents that trigger emergency responses.
A more contentious proposal remains under debate. Senate Bill 61, introduced in February 2025, would automatically place minors ages 13 to 17 accused of making terroristic threats against schools under adult Superior Court jurisdiction rather than juvenile court, according to WSB-TV. Legal experts have raised concerns that the shift could overburden trial calendars.
It remains unclear who is behind Tuesday's threats or whether investigators will trace the communications to local students or an outside source, a question that has followed prior Rockdale County cases as well. The sheriff's office has not indicated when the searches of both campuses will conclude or when students might return to normal operations.
