A 12-year-old Murfreesboro student is facing serious consequences after his social media post caused “significant disruptions” for the school district, according to an incident report filed by Pike County Investigator Jason McDonald.
McDonald reported that on Sept. 15 around 10 p.m., he received a call from South Pike County School District Superintendent Tanya Wilcher regarding a TikTok video recently posted. The video had since been taken down and Wilcher reported she had received several phone calls from concerned invididuals in the community who had seen the video.
According to McDonald, the video featured a photo from the television show Dexter, “a fictional series centered around a serial killer.” The image depicted Dexter in front of a wall filled with pictures of people he had killed. The onscreen text read, “This is how I will be tomorrow” and “MHS is gonna be alive” and included the district’s Rattler mascot logo.
“This connection strongly suggested that the video was posted by someone associated” with the school district, either directly or indirectly, McDonald reported.
The following morning, members of the Pike County Sheriff’s Department and Murfreesboro Police Department were present at the school to ensure campus safety and secured the school grounds before normal activities resumed.
That same morning, the juvenile seventh-grader reportedly admitted to a school official that he was responsible for the account and video that was posted.
The student and his mother later went to the sheriff’s office where they were spoke with McDonald and signed a juvenile Miranda warning.
The boy admitted that he was associated with the video and that he became scared and took it down when it began to circulate and receive comments. He further stated he “didn’t mean anything by the video.”
The mother advised that due the child’s age he was not permitted to have social media accounts and that he had created the account without her knowledge.
McDonald said he again talked that day with Supt. Wilcher, who stated the incident had caused significant disruption at the school and more than 50 percent of the student body did not attend out of fear related to the video.
The juvenile has been charged with terroristic threatening and on the day he was interviewed was transported to the Yell County Juvenile Detention Center for intake.
