Parent charged after threatening to bring “loaded and ready” gun to school over mask mandate

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Luray, Va.— A parent has been charged with making an oral threat while on school property after a video went viral of her threatening a school board meeting.

During a Page County Public School board meeting, Amelia King used the end of her 3-minute time slot to threaten the school her children attend with bringing “every single gun loaded and ready.”

“No mask mandates. My children will not come to school Monday with a mask on. I will bring every single gun loaded and ready,” King said before she was cut off by a board member informing her she had gone over her time.

“I’ll see y’all on Monday,” King said as she walked out of the meeting.

“No mask mandates. My children will not come to school Monday with a mask on. I will bring every single gun, loaded and ready … I’ll see y’all on Monday.” – woman at a Page County Public Schools board meeting pic.twitter.com/alpEwBxdQ2

— philip lewis (@Phil_Lewis_) January 21, 2022

Mom charged

Friday night, the Luray Police Department charged King for making an oral threat on school property. The parent was released on $5,000 bond.

Source: pic.twitter.com/DTKYuyiYK6

— Travis Allen (@TravisAllen02) January 22, 2022

Page County Schools Superintendent Antonia Fox and School Board Chair Megan Gordon released a joint statement Friday, saying the schools don’t take these kinds of threats lightly.

“Not only do comments such as these go against everything we wish to model for our students, they go again the very nature of how we as a community should interact with each other,” they said in the statement. ” Violence and threats are never acceptable or appropriate. This kind of behavior is not tolerated from our students, faculty, staff, nor will it be tolerated by parents or guests of our school division.”

School officials said they are in communication with local law enforcement and that there will be an increased police presence at each school Friday and Monday. 

School board meetings have grown more and more contentious over the last year as parents threaten, scream, and even assault board members over mask and vaccine mandates. In several states across the country, school board meetings have been taken over by wild crowds of angry parents who insist on having their say, respectfully or not.