Telfair State Prison inmate accused of Atkinson County school bomb threat

The threat closed schools and also led to the cancellation of GMC Prep's football season opener. The Atkinson County sheriff says separate TikTok threats came from a young juvenile.

MCRAE-HELENA, Georgia (41NBC/WMGT) — A man serving life without parole at Telfair State Prison is accused of making a bomb threat that disrupted Atkinson County schools and also led to the cancellation of a high school football game.

In a news release Tuesday, the GBI identified the inmate as 37-year-old Kendall Stevens, originally from Savannah.

According to the release, an Atkinson County school received the bomb threat on Friday, and the Atkinson County School chief of police asked the GBI to investigate.

The GBI says preliminary information indicates Stevens made the threat to disrupt school operations. The GBI did not identify the school, explain how the threat was made or announce any related charges against Stevens.

Atkinson County Schools announced on social media Friday morning that all students and staff were safe. The district dismissed all schools for the rest of the day and canceled all after-school activities, including GMC Prep’s scheduled football season opener against Atkinson County.

“We are looking at the possibility of rescheduling,” GMC Prep wrote in a Facebook post just before noon Friday.

Atkinson County Sheriff David Moore announced Monday that investigators had also identified a young juvenile accused of making separate threats against Atkinson County students on TikTok. Moore said investigators recovered the phone used to create the posts and did not believe the child could carry out the threatened scenario.

“The bomb threat and the TikTok threat are 2 separate events,” Moore wrote.