Roberson Cole Bryant
We have a follow-up to an incident that occurred on Tuesday in Bledsoe County. The sheriff’s office began investigating a threatening social media post directed toward Pikeville Elementary School in Pikeville, Tennessee.
Detectives quickly identified the individual responsible for the post and made contact as part of the investigation. The post has since been removed from social media.
As a result of the investigation, Roberson Cole Bryant was arrested and charged with Threats of Mass Violence on School Property.
Social media posts erupted on Sequatchie Valley Now in support of Bryant and questioning school officials about the alleged incident that took place on school grounds. Many reshared an edited and later deleted post.
In his original social post in the second paragraph where he stated, “You can bet I’m going to burn this b**** down over my daughter.”
It was after that post that Bryant was arrested and booked into the Bledsoe County Jail on threats of mass violence on school property. Bryant bonded out. He said he never intended to harm or threaten students or staff.
Bryant told Local3 News that his fiancé’s four-year-old daughter was touched inappropriately by another student earlier in the week while attending preschool at Pikeville Elementary. He said he and the child’s mother, his fiancé, were never notified by the school. Bryant said he went to the school looking for answers from the principal but felt brushed off because he is not the girl’s biological father.
Bryant shared with WRCB that his fiancé and himself took their daughter out of the school district. Bryant said he resigned from his job. He also shared that his fiancé, a teacher at Bledsoe County Schools, also resigned following the incident.
The Bledsoe County School system stated, “When the district, following federal law, declined to share this information, the person in question became confrontational. It was necessary to call for the assistance of law enforcement to restore order. Subsequently, the person in question threatened violence against the school. We understand from law enforcement that students were not in immediate danger.”
