Apparent Northport Teen Threatened Racial Violence in Video That Sparked Panic Thursday

A young person who claimed to be from Northport, Alabama threatened racial violence in a video that sparked panic in Tuscaloosa County Thursday.

The Tuscaloosa County School System alerted parents and community members to the video Thursday afternoon, saying that they and the county sheriff's office had become aware of a video in which a person threatened violence at a school, then said something indicating they may live in the area.

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Hours later, in another update, TCSS said the sheriff's office had investigated the matter and found no credible threat to any school in the area.

"After speaking with law enforcement officials, there appears to be no evidence of a credible threat toward any school," the system said in a statement. "However, any threatening language directed toward a school or school in general will be approached with the utmost seriousness and consequences by the Tuscaloosa County School System, regardless of the circumstances."

The Thread has been able to view a copy of the video that sparked the response Thursday -- the original has been removed from YouTube.

Because the person depicted is likely a minor, because the sheriff's office has determined there was no credible threat to any area schools and because the person's face is visible in the video, the copy will not be shared in this report.

In the video, a young man documents his exploits on a video-chatting service called Omegle, which pairs users in video chats with other people using the service at random.

The video, which was more than 30 minutes long, showed the content creator connect with many people, but in one disturbing segment, he was placed in a video chat with a young man lying on a bed, staring into his webcam.

"I'm gonna shoot up a school and kill all the Black children inside, watching their brains explode from the inside," the person in the video said.

"You're from Alabama, Northport, right?" the streamer asked, to which the person in the chat responded affirmatively. "Yeah, that's really nothing to joke about."

Both the streamer and the person he chatted with who made the "joke" are white.

In a comment posted to a later video on his channel, the streamer said he had removed the original video on his own accord after the Federal Bureau of Investigation contacted him about the clip.

In their Thursday evening update, the school system did not confirm if the person in the video is actually a Northport resident, if he attends any local schools or what disciplinary action will be taken against him if he is a student.

Stay connected to the Tuscaloosa Thread for updates on this case if they become available.