Scribbled on a desk at Edgewood High School and circulated amongst students, a threat that would strike fear into any classmate, any teacher and any parent.
"I just found out about it this morning, and it's getting way to close to home for me,” said Michael Sweeney, “I have a son here who is in tenth grade. I worry about him every day."
On its face, Harford County Sheriff Jeffrey Gahler says the cryptic words offered plenty to worry about.
"The message was consistent with what we've seen other places---that the school would be shot up," said Gahler.
But unlike the rumor-driven social media posts that spread unwarranted fear in four other schools in Harford county this week, this time the threat was by design, and someone reported it immediately.
"It was brought to the attention of the school resource officer who investigated and today, it was put back to two young ladies from that school, both who are over 18 and adults, and both have been charged accordingly," said Gahler.
Investigators quickly determined that the pair of 18-year-olds who authored the message, Shyanne Evans and Alexis Robinson, did so simply to have school cancelled for the day, and they had no intention of carrying out the threat.
"When we have tragedies around the country, unfortunately, there's a small number of people who want to do things to take advantage of that, do things to bring attention to themselves, so you will see an uptick in copycat-type behavior," said Harford Schools Safety & Security Chief Donoven Brooks.
But at a time when the nation is still mourning the students gunned down in its most recent school shooting, it is behavior no one is willing to tolerate, especially when the stakes are so high.
"Even if they don't mean it, they've got to be responsible for their actions,” said Sweeney, “and I don't know why people would want to make threats knowing that there's going to be some kind of negative outcome."
The students face a series of charges including one count of making a threat of mass violence, and while that's a misdemeanor, it can carry a penalty of up to 10 years behind bars.
