Belleville West students awoke to an unsettling situation Friday morning as a student posted on Twitter that someone was going to bring a gun to school.

District 201 Superintendent Jeff Dosier said extra police were called to the high school and, before classes even started, the student was taken to the office and questioned. A robo call went out to parents alerting them to the situation.

"He admitted that he made the post and said that it was just meant as a joke," Dosier said.

"But we have to take things like that quite seriously. We had a lot of anxious parents and students this morning."

School leaders became aware of the tweet before 7 a.m. Friday and the post apparently was taken down shortly after that.

Other Belleville West students tweeted Friday morning that there were several fights and a pulled fire alarm Thursday that created tension at the school. Dosier said those comments were exaggerated. But he said that he thought the gun tweet was a comment on the disruptions from the previous day.

Belleville Police Capt. Don Sax is convinced that Belleville West students were never in any danger.

"No weapons were found in the school or on school property," Sax said. "These types of statements are taken very seriously by the police department. The Belleville Police Department will continue to work together with the school to investigate this and any other incidents that may occur."

Sax did not comment about if he thought there was a relationship between the Thursday fights and the Friday comment. Police did not release any information about the nature of the fights or if anyone was arrested.

While school officials do not believe the student meant to cause a threat, they plan to take disciplinary action against him, Dosier said. He urged parents to try to turn a potentially negative situation into a positive.

School officials said Friday that parents should use this event as a wake-up call about the risks of social media, specifically about how comments made online can spread and potentially be misconstrued. They encouraged parents to take the opportunity to speak to their children about responsible use of sites like Twitter and Facebook.

Contact reporter Scott Wuerz at swuerz@bnd.com or call 239-2626.

Contact reporter Scott Wuerz at swuerz@bnd.com or call 239-2626.