A 13-year-old middle school student later claimed he was joking, but was arrested Wednesday anyway after threatening to “shoot up the school.”

Tuesday, the William James Middle School student 7th grader ”told an associate of his that he should not come to school tomorrow because he was ‘going to shoot up the school,’” said Bulloch County Sheriff’s Capt. Todd Hutchens.

The other child relayed the information to school administrators Wednesday, and administrators “acted swiftly in reporting the threat to School Resource Deputy James Revell,” he said.

While investigating, Revell obtained statements from witnesses before he and school administrators questioned the teen.

The juvenile offender “admitted to making the statement but said he was ‘only joking,’" Hutchens said. “Deputy Revell took appropriate action and arrested the juvenile and transported him to the Bulloch County Sheriff's Office.”

The teen was booked into the jail and charged with terroristic threats and disruption of public school.

Revell contacted the Department of Juvenile Justice, and “per their decision, the juvenile was released into the custody of his guardians,” he said.

The case will be forwarded to juvenile services and the Ogeechee Judicial Circuit District Attorney’s Office for further court proceedings. 

Bulloch County Sheriff Noel Brown asks anyone hearing such threats “towards our schools, teachers, or students, to report this immediately to law enforcement.”

Since the Feb. 14 school shooting in Parkland, Fla, that left 17 dead, 10 other students, ranging in age 10 to 21 (a university student), have been arrested in the area for making similar threats.