DALTON, Ga. — After investigating a claim that a Dalton Middle School student had threatened to shoot another student, officials with the Dalton Police Department and Dalton Public Schools said Thursday afternoon that “no credible threat” had been made.

Wednesday evening, parents received a text message from Principal Phil Jones that at 4 p.m. he “was notified that a student had threatened to shoot another student tomorrow at school. We immediately contacted the parent of the student who allegedly made the threat, our resource officer and our deputy superintendent and then took appropriate steps to ensure the safety of all of our students and staff. I want you to know that we take every threat seriously and will take all steps necessary to address them. I want to thank the student who reported the issue so that it could be dealt with immediately. I understand there may be some social media posts related to this situation but I have not seen them personally. Thank you for helping us keep school safety as our number one priority.”

Dalton Public Schools Chief of Staff Pat Holloway said Thursday that a student had called the school “regarding allegedly being threatened by another student.”

The student was put in touch with an assistant principal. That assistant principal contacted Jones, “who in turn contacted the school resource officer (SRO), the parent of the student who had allegedly made the threat and the central office, and an investigation began immediately,” Holloway said.

Holloway said investigations by the school administration and the Dalton Police Department found there “was no credible threat.”

Dalton Police Department spokesman Bruce Frazier said investigators spoke to more than a dozen students.

“We determined that the student who made the alleged threats was responding to being bullied. He was being called names he did not like and he made some sort of statements, and we heard a number of different versions of what he said. But basically he said, ‘If you keep saying that, I’m going to’ whatever he said. Again, we heard different versions of what he said. But that was the extent of what happened.”

Asked what the student who was being bullied said he said, Frazier said it’s the police department’s policy not to comment on interviews with suspects.

Frazier said that after consulting with Juvenile Court officials, officers determined no charges will be filed. Holloway said she could not comment on any disciplinary actions that any of the students involved might face, citing federal privacy laws.

Holloway said school officials appreciate the students who came forward to share information with investigators. But she said one student’s “posts to social media only served to aggravate the rumor mill without substantiation.”

There were two SROs at the school on Thursday instead of one as is typical. Frazier said the police department will keep “an expanded presence” at the school through the end of the school year on May 24.

“This is the time of year when there are more pranks and things like that,” he said.