The night of September 18, in Wayne City’s own neighboring county, Mount Vernon High School had a threat of shooting. A student was said to have threatened the entire school by saying he was going to shoot up the school and said he was done with everything and everyone. It was at a booster meeting when the threat was received. 

The next morning at school, the staff took him and a few others in for questioning, then they were released back into the school setting. “It was honestly insane, he walked free that day with only the staff questioning him, and it didn’t seem like they really took it seriously. Everyone was terrified that day in every class, especially if the boy who threatened us was in there. I couldn’t comprehend what was happening and how people from our own school would be in that state of mind where they would want to hurt everyone,” said MVTHS student, Vanessa Dudley. 

Fairfield High School has also had threats, resulting in several lock-downs. Wayne City has not yet been threatened with an active shooter, but there was a drill at the beginning of the year in case something were to happen. When asked what she thought of the recent local threats, Brianna Rainwater said, “It’s hard to acknowledge that these things aren’t just news stories and it happens at small schools like ours, too. Mount Vernon and Fairfield having these threats happen is really eye-opening and scary.”