A warning from a third party alleging the possibility of bodily harm to an unidentified employee at the Pearl River Central Elementary School caused Pearl River County school officials to take precautionary measures Friday, including “locking down” the school to restrict access.

Pearl River County Superintendent Dennis Penton said Friday there was a low level threat issued to a staff member at the Lower Elementary School, which caused the district to take precautionary measures.

Penton said campus security worked to ensure the safety of students and staff and the Pearl River County Sheriff’s Department was notified.

Pearl River County Sheriff’s Department Chief Deputy Shane Tucker said the threat was issued to a teacher’s aideby an unidentified acquaintance of her ex-boyfriend, who also was not identified by school officials or the Sheriff’s Department, simply as a warning. The acquaintance was trying to warn the school employee that the ex-boyfriend was going to try to kill her. As a result, the Sheriff’s Department sent two deputies to the school to ensure the man did not come to the school. Tucker said the man never showed.

Tucker said the woman had not mentioned to her employers that she had been in an abusive relationship with the man who supposedly was making the threat.

Since the suspect did not call in the threat himself, and the call was actually a warning in an effort to preserve the woman’s personal safety, no charges have been pressed, Tucker said.