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Officials: School Shooting Threats Making The Rounds In North Carolina Likely A Hoax

Students hold candles during a candlelight vigil for the victims of the Wednesday shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, in Parkland, Fla., Thursday, Feb. 15, 2018. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)

A series of posts on social media threatening school shootings are circulating through a number of North Carolina counties. But some officials are saying the threats are not what they seem.

Sheriff and police departments in roughly a dozen North Carolina counties have responded in some way to threats of a school shooting in their jurisdictions in recent days.

According to the News and Observer, law enforcement agencies have increased their presence at schools because of the threats.

But the Nash County Sheriff's Office says the social media posts they're investigating seem to be part of a hoax.

In a statement, they say that whenever the post gets passed around, the name of the school or district is changed, leading to new concerns. But they don't believe the threat is legitimate.

All of this comes in the wake of the deadly school shooting in Florida last week that took the lives of 17 people.

Sean Bueter joined WFDD in August 2015 as a reporter covering issues across the Piedmont Triad and beyond.Previously, Sean was a reporter, host and news director at WBOI in Fort Wayne, Ind., just a few hours from where he grew up. He also sorted Steve Inskeep's mail as an intern at NPR in Washington, D.C.Sean has experience on a variety of beats, including race, wealth and poverty, economic development, and more. His work has appeared on NPR's Morning Edition and All Things Considered, and APM's Marketplace.In his spare time, Sean plays tennis (reasonably well), golf (reasonably poorly), and scours local haunts for pinball machines to conquer.

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