Social Media Post Leads To Vian School Lockdown And Man's Arrest

A man is in jail accused of making threats that forced a Vian school to go on lockdown as a precaution.

Hunter Craighead was arrested at his home in Fort Smith and will be brought back to Sequoyah County.

The superintendent said as soon as he was notified of the potential threat, he issued an all-call, meaning students and teachers didn't leave their locked location for two and a half hours.

Teachers said when the lockdown was lifted, there were some pretty antsy kids.

"We are still in lockdown drill but we're good now. Hopefully, we don't have another one," said a child.

That's from a voice message from an elementary school student at Vian Public Schools sent to family while in lockdown, using a smartwatch they'd gotten for Christmas.

"The lockdown is real," said the kid.

The Sequoyah County Sheriff said someone alerted him about a video circulating on social media.

"The whole video actually was pretty scary. I happen to live in Vian. My wife’s a teacher at Vian school," said Sheriff Larry Lane, Sequoyah County. "His text on the video said that he wanted to kill somebody. And he showed himself holding what appeared to be an AR-15 rifle, pointing it towards the camera and made a statement also in the video that he was on his way to the 'Big V,' which we all know around here is Vian."

Sheriff Larry Lane contacted Vian Police, the school resource officer, and Superintendent Victor Salcedo.

"Kids safety first and our staff. That was the first things let's get, that's nonnegotiable. There's no pause. You don't wait," said Supt. Victor Salcedo, Vian Public Schools.

Melissa Winans said the middle school was on lunch break and students were outside for recess when the superintendent's voice came over the loudspeaker.

"Because this was lunch, we had the entire middle school on lunch break," said Winans. "[...] Figure out where all the kids are. Make sure you know where they are. Keep away from the windows. Sit down. Be quiet."

Winans said her two sons who are nine and 11 were in the elementary school at the time. Her husband who is a coach and eighth grade history teacher was getting ready to head to a game.

"I had to kind of think, you know, I'm here with these kids, but I didn't have a single worry in my mind about my two kids because I know their teachers were doing exactly what I was doing," said Winans.

Sheriff Lane said Craighead said he used to be a student at Vian and has siblings who go there now.

"He immediately started apologizing about the video saying he didn't mean any harm by it. Said it was a music video that he was making, which I made it clear to him that was appropriate for social media or for anything as far as I'm concerned. Especially social media and to be brandishing a weapon like that had the whole town of Vian pretty scared," said Sheriff Lane.

The superintendent said everything went smoothly thanks to the resource officer's quick response. He said they're working to get a second officer for the new high school they're building.