A 13-year-old student at Upson-Lee Middle School is facing criminal charges after allegedly posting a social media threat warning he would “finna blow up mrs (----) classroom,” according to the Upson County Sheriff's Office. The student was absent from school on the day he is accused of posting the threat, and investigators say he used a fictitious name in an apparent attempt to hide his identity.
The Upson County Sheriff's Office learned of the online post threatening the school and launched an investigation, according to FOX 5 Atlanta. Sheriff Dan Kilgore released a news statement detailing the investigation, and the station reports that school administrators responded immediately, working alongside deputies to identify the student behind the post. Authorities have not disclosed which social media platform was used, and the outlet notes that at no point were students or staff in immediate danger.
Juvenile Court Referral and District Response
The teenager has been referred to juvenile court on charges of terroristic threats and acts, the station's report states. He also faces disciplinary action under the Thomaston-Upson County Schools code of conduct, though the district has not disclosed the specific consequences the student will face. In a statement, the district said it appreciated the swift response and continued partnership of the Upson County Sheriff's Office and Sheriff Kilgore, adding that student and staff safety remained its highest priority, per the same account.
Georgia law offers prosecutors more than one path for a case like this. Under House Bill 268, the Comprehensive School Safety & Student Well-being Act of 2025, students as young as 13 can face felony charges for terroristic threats made at school, on school buses, or at school events, according to the Georgia Appleseed Center for Law & Justice. Separately, Senate Bill 61 was proposed to expand court jurisdiction, allowing Superior Courts to exercise exclusive jurisdiction or handle designated felony prosecutions for juveniles aged 13 to 17 accused of terroristic threats involving schools, per the Georgia General Assembly.
What Georgia Statute Requires to Prosecute
Under Georgia Code § 16-11-37, transmitting a terroristic threat is typically prosecuted as a misdemeanor, but the charge escalates to a felony punishable by one to five years in prison if the threat involves death or causes a building evacuation or major lockdown, according to FindLaw. The same statute explicitly requires corroborating evidence beyond the statement or testimony of the recipient in order to secure a conviction, as explained by George C. Creal, Jr., P.C.
It remains an open question whether prosecutors will petition to transfer the 13-year-old's case from juvenile court to Superior Court or keep it within the juvenile justice system, as well as what specific administrative discipline the local school board will ultimately impose.
Part of a Wider Wave of School Threats
Part of a Wider Wave of School Threats The threat against Upson-Lee Middle School was among school-threat incidents reported across central Georgia, according to 13WMAZ. Just one day earlier, Loganville Middle School in Walton County added deputies after an online threat alarmed parents there, as Hoodline previously reported.
This is not the Thomaston-Upson County School System's first brush with a threat investigation this year. In February, a 31-year-old man in Clayton County was arrested after allegedly calling in a false threat claiming to be inside Upson-Lee Elementary School with a gun, placing the same district on high alert, as detailed in Hoodline's earlier coverage of the Morrow man's arrest. The district, formed through a 1990 community consolidation vote, serves roughly 4,100 students across four campuses, with Upson-Lee Middle School as its sole middle school, according to Thomaston-Upson Schools. The middle school was nationally recognized in 2026 as a School of Distinction by the Association for Middle Level Education.
The school has faced threats before. In December 2014, Upson-Lee North Elementary School was the site of a reported bomb-threat incident. To help districts respond to incidents like these, Georgia's FY2026 state budget allocated $61,000 per school in safety improvement grants along with $20 million statewide for student behavioral health resources, per the Georgia Appleseed Center for Law & Justice.
