Rumors cause panic at Dunbar High School

LEXINGTON, Ky. (WTVQ)- Rumors of violence at Lexington’s Dunbar High School were so out of control the principal felt the need to send an email saying the rumors were baseless.

School officials tell me they are still trying to understand when these rumors began and who started them but say just before class started this morning dozen of false rumors saying there was a shooting or going to be a shooting at the school spread like wildfire among the student body.

Officials say they estimate close to 45 different rumors involving variations of an active shooter or potential shooter on campus were spreading via text and social media.

Those rumors quickly cause mass hysteria among students and school officials say they immediately started getting calls and arrivals from panicked parents.

Officials say they repeatedly tried to calm students down reassuring them that there was no known threat of violence at the school.

After continued fear and confusion Dunbar’s principal sent out a school-wide email stating there was absolutely no incident at Dunbar High School and that all the rumors were false.

The principal ended her email by reassuring everyone that the district takes all threats of violence very seriously but then asked both parents and students to try their best to only share information they know is true.