HAMBLEN COUNTY, Tenn. (WATE) — The Hamblen County Sheriff’s Office has charged a student for a threat made at a Hamblen County School earlier this week.

On Tuesday, the first full day of classes, a student made a threat to “shoot up a school,” according to the Hamblen County Sheriff’s Office. A school resource officer was told about that the student had made the threat and alerted the necessary authorities.

While the student told investigators that it was a joke, the school system superintendent said this is not how the school year should have started.

“It’s disappointing to start the year like this. What it also shows our parents, guardians and our community is we take it very seriously,” Hamblen County Schools Superintendent Arnie Bunch said. “We will look at everything and we are working very closely with local law enforcement.”

HCSO declined to identify the specific school, however, deputies worked swiftly to determine and locate the person responsible for the threat.

“There’s two good things about how they acted swiftly. What I messaged out to all the parents and all the teachers is, ‘if you see something say something,’ Bunch said. “What was also great is law enforcement immediately poured into it to go isolate it, identify it and make sure that the threat never came to fruition.”

According to the sheriff’s office, the student has been charged with making threats of mass violence at a school, this coming less than a week into the school year. Parents in the area said that it is concerning for this to happen at any point during the year but more so at the beginning of the new school year. They are however, happy it got resolved quick.

“Parents need to let their students know threats are not jokes and anyone making any type of threat towards a school or individual will be charged accordingly,” a sheriff’s office spokesperson said.