HAMBLEN COUNTY, Tenn. (WATE) — A Hamblen County student has been charged after they allegedly threatened to “shoot up the school” on the first full-day of classes according to the Hamblen County Sheriff’s Office.

A Hamblen County Schools resource officer was told that a student had made the threats to acquaintances on Tuesday, August 2, according to the sheriff’s office.

The investigator on the case said they went into action immediately and interviewed the student who said the threat had been made but “it was a joke.”

That student has been charged with threatening mass violence at a school.

“The Hamblen County Sheriff’s Office and the Hamblen County Board of Education are adamant that all threats will be taken seriously,” Sheriff Chad Mullins stressed. “Parents need to let their students know threats are not jokes and anyone making any type of threat towards a school or another individual will be charged accordingly. We stand firm on this.”

The sheriff’s office declined to release which of the district’s 18 schools the threat was targeted at.