HANOVER COUNTY, Va. -- Schools and law enforcement officers in Hanover County have been on high alert, following the circulation of a viral TikTok video that seemed to show several district schools on a possible "hit list."
According to investigators, the video at the center of school violence rumors was based on a list of Title 1 schools in Georgia.
Some of the schools listed share the same names as a few Hanover County schools, like Liberty Middle, Battlefield Elementary, and The Georgetown School.
"The unique thing about the list was, it was cropped specifically to remove the location of the schools, which was in a column to the left of the names of the schools," said Sergeant Steve Willis with Hanover County Sheriff's Office (HCSO).
Wills said Wednesday, that parents notified HCSO about the video, though most had not seen the video's contents. HCSO worked with the Virginia Fusion Center, as well as both national and international partners, to pinpoint its origin and accuracy.
CBS 6 heard from several parents who were alarmed about HCSO's first message about the possible threat, shared late Wednesday night, which did not include the names of schools possibly included in the "hit list."
"Initially, the first message that we put out, as we started to get more calls for service, we wanted to try to jump ahead of it. In the end, at the time, we didn't have a lot of information that we could share though, so that was the challenge," Wills said. "This has grown quickly, I would compare it to a modern-day version of the game of telephone, where somebody says one thing and it grows very quickly and changes into something else."
Wills maintained that there has been an increase in law enforcement at district schools, even before the TikTok video surfaced, due to copycat threats that often follow after a school shooting garners national attention.
"That increase in presence, a lot of it depends on our patrol level units. What we try to do is assign them to be visible at the schools when they're not on a call for service, when they're not working an accident or taking a report for a larceny or vandalism, those things. Be visible, be there, but we also have units that we're not going to notice. They're not as visible. They are there, but they're not as visible because they're unmarked cars," Wills said.
Currently, there are 26 officers assigned to Hanover County Public Schools, including two sergeants and a lieutenant. One armed officer is assigned to each building year-round.
Currently, there are no metal detectors used at any school in the district, and there are no plans to add them for the school year.
"Please note that while, for security reasons, we cannot provide detailed descriptions of our current safety and security practices, we have substantive measures in place at every school both seen and unseen," said HCPS Communications Coordinator Justin Mattingly.
Several parents shared on Facebook that there was also a separate threat targeting Liberty Middle School.
"Being that juveniles are involved, it's very limited what we can share. That situation was investigated two days or three days ago now. We've been dealing with it. A threat assessment has been conducted. We've been working very closely with our partners over at the schools," Wills said. "There is no credible threat there. There are rumors, and those rumors have changed from what the original situation was."
Wills said school officials and law enforcement are encouraging parents to continue to send their children to school.
When it comes to unfounded threats, Wills is asking families to avoid spreading false information and report any kind of threat they see directly to law enforcement.
"We don't take this lightly, and at the end of the day, we want our parents and our students and our teachers to feel comfortable, and we want parents to be able to send their kids to school, knowing that there is not a credible threat. If say there's not a credible threat, we want to know that we've looked into it, and we have determined there is not a credible threat here," he said.
This is a developing story. Email the CBS 6 Newsroom if you have additional information to share.
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