August 25, 2023
By: Dwayne Page
Another school threat has been discovered unrelated to the one which came to light Thursday night and this time an arrest has been made.
Sheriff Patrick Ray said 18-year-old Austin Ray Light of Maynard Road, Liberty, a student at DeKalb County High School was summoned to the DeKalb County Jail Friday morning where he was charged with reckless threaten act of mass violence-school property/activity. Light is under a $5,000 bond and his General Sessions Court date is September 9.
According to Sheriff Ray,” Late Thursday night, law enforcement received an anonymous tip about a student at DeKalb County High School having messages on a telephone possibly related to violence. Immediately the Chief Deputy and a detective with the DeKalb County Sheriff’s Office worked throughout the night to investigate the threats. On Friday morning, law enforcement officials arrested Light. Throughout the investigation law enforcement officials found messages in the phone belonging to Light talking about shooting someone due to him being upset over a test,” said Sheriff Ray.
The arrest warrant states that “On or about the 24th day of August, 2023, Austin Ray Light did make a threat of violence while on the property of DeKalb County High School. Light did use text communication stating “I am gonna kill someone, the only reason I showed up today was to do the test, and it was pushed back to tomorrow”. Light did admit to making these threats.
Sheriff Ray stressed that this arrest is unrelated to the incident Thursday night in which two teenage boys in North Carolina phoned in a school shooting threat to a local Dollar General Store as a prank.