Arrest In April Fools' School Shooting "Prank"

APRIL 1--An April Fools' Day prank backfired today when a 54-year-old employee of a South Carolina college texted her daughter to claim that she “could hear gun shots being fired inside the school,” police report.

According to cops, Angela Timmons this morning sent the message to her daughter April, who was in New York. When her mother did not respond back to her reply messages, April, 34, called 911 to report the incident.

Cops raced to Virginia College and discovered that no shooting had occurred. According to Timmons’s Facebook page, she works in “financial planning” at the for-profit school.

When questioned by Spartanburg County Sheriff’s Office deputies, Angela Timmons said that she “sent the text as an April Fools joke and that she has done such jokes on April Fools in the past.” Timmons had claimed in the text to her daughter that she was “hiding for her own safety.”

Investigators noted that there was “no record” on Timmons’s cell phone indicating that she revealed the text “was only a joke.”

Seen in the above mug shot, Timmons was arrested and booked into the county jail, where she is being held on several charges, including aggravated breach of peace and disturbing a school. (2 pages)