NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WKRN) — Weeks after a deadly shooting at Antioch High School, chief of the Metro Nashville Police Department John Drake has sounded the alarm on school safety. Specifically, he shared concerns about the role social media plays in school threats.
“About 8 a.m. the morning of the incident, [the shooter] posted on social media that it was all going to go down at 11 am.” Drake said. “Thirty-two people liked it, but no one called. No one said ‘Hey, this may happen.’ And it happened.”
In an open, candid talk organized by the Interdenominational Ministers Fellowship, Drake shared concerns about the role social media posts played in the Antioch High School shooting. In a now-suspended profile on X — formerly Twitter — believed to be linked to shooter Solomon Henderson, a photo of a pistol inside a backpack in what appeared to be a bathroom stall was posted. However, Drake said no one alerted police.
“Since that time, I’ve met with a few people and I’m trying to get some legislation passed as high up as Congress — ’cause I talked to someone at that level — when a person makes a post online, there’s an algorithm that can pick it up,” Drake said. “That would say, ‘This person wants to commit mass violence or wants to shoot a lot of people,’ and alert local law enforcement.”
Following the shooting, Drake highlighted a troubling trend where the MNPD and other Middle Tennessee school districts had to respond to numerous school threats.
“After the shooting, we’ve had about 67 school threats that we’ve had to go through,” Drake said. “There were two that were unfounded. The rest were actual threats. It’s very concerning.”
News 2 has reported on at least a dozen students across Metro Nashville who have faced serious charges for threatening mass violence against a school. All of them went on to appear before a juvenile court judge.
The Chief also mentioned the “LIVE 911” technology, which allows people to call 911 and sends the details of the emergency straight to first responders. That technology, Drake said, allows them to have a better sense of the problem before they even arrive on the scene.
