A bogus but alarming social media alert has put some people in Northeast Georgia on edge. The post on Facebook claims teenagers are going around the city of Lula, knocking on doors, shooting people who answer their doors.
The post appeals to people to “lock ur doors And don’t answer them” and to “call police” if someone does knock on their door or “u see a group of kids running the roads.”
The Hall County Sheriff’s Office is aware of the post. Spokesperson Derreck Booth says they’ve not received any reports of anything like this happening. “Deputies have checked into this extensively today and it appears unfounded at this point,” he says.
The posts began circulating Monday, June 1, following a weekend of unrest and protests in the wake of George Floyd’s death. While there’s nothing in the post that directly links it to the Floyd protests, the mention of a “group of kids running the roads” is reminiscent of scenes that played out across Northeast Georgia this weekend.
About 500 protesters, many of them teenagers, took to the streets of Gainesville on Saturday to protest the unarmed black man’s death at the hands of Minneapolis police. Some 2,000 people, many of them college-aged, protested in Athens.
Booth says law enforcement “will remain vigilant.”
