Kentucky teens charged in TikTok bomb threat ‘challenge’

At least four Kentucky teenagers are facing terrorism and harassment charges for threatening their teachers with hidden bombs as part of a demented trend made popular on TikTok.

There have been four different bomb threats at three different Oldham County high schools since the new school year began on August 9.

At least three of the incidents were confirmed to have stemmed from a social media “challenge.”

“The challenge encouraged students to record a video of themselves telling a teacher there was a bomb or gun in their backpack,” Oldham County police said in a statement.

All three students slapped with terroristic threatening charges were 15-year-old students at Oldham County High School, located just 20 miles northeast of Louisville.

A fourth student, also 15-year-old, at the nearby South Oldham High School, may have also been inspired by the trend, according to police. They were charged with harassing communications.

All four students have also been suspended from classes for an undisclosed amount of time and ordered to complete a mental health screening before returning to school., according to a district message shared to parents.

“As previously communicated in a letter to families regarding terroristic threatening, students who participate in this type of behavior face serious consequences. In addition to school-level discipline, students are prosecuted to the greatest extent of the law for making a threat to a public school,” said the memo, obtained by WDRB.com

The district sent out a message to parents begging that they warn their children about the consequences of making such dangerous allegations.

Officials also asked that the parents monitor their children’s social media accounts.

“Whether written or spoken, all threats are taken seriously and students need to know the repercussions of these actions, both short and long term. Even if they are not credible threats, they can cause a great deal of stress or anxiety for our students, families and staff.”

All of the TikTok videos have been removed at the district’s request.