BAYONNE -- Hundreds of worried parents descended on Bayonne High School this morning to sign their children out of school after a threat against "BHS students" circulated on social media.

But the threatening message had nothing to do with Bayonne High School; it was instead allegedly posted by a sophomore at Belen High School in New Mexico, who has since been arrested.

Bayonne police responded to the Avenue A school at approximately 7:45 a.m. after a parent reported the alleged threat, authorities said.

"ATTENTION all bhs students prepare too see my wrath tomorrow hahaha you all (expletive) up. I'm going to be the next to go down in history you SCUMS (expletive) all bhs, I dare you to go to school tm I want to see how many people I can take with me," the post on the social media platform Snapchat read.

The New Mexico student, who reportedly told police the threat was merely a hoax, was arrested Thursday and charged with various offenses, according to published reports.

School officials in Bayonne say police deemed the threat not credible just before 10 a.m. But students texted their parents and said they were in lockdown and could not leave their homerooms.

At least 500 parents showed up to the school to pick up their kids, creating a hectic situation for school officials.

"Kids saw (the post) on social media, and when they saw 'BHS' they started sending it out to all their friends but there was a never a threat here," interim Superintendent Dr. Michael Wanko said outside of the high school.

Officials moved to go into an assembly schedule, where kids stay in their homeroom period for 40 minutes, and then take five minutes off of the remaining classes throughout the day.

Wanko, Assistant Superintendent Kenny Kopacz and Mayor Jimmy Davis spoke to parents outside the school ensuring them there was no threat.

"If you decide you still want to take your child out you're going to have to wait in line, but this was never a threat to Bayonne High School; there's no threat," Davis said to a group of parents.

"We want to make sure everyone is safe and we understand their apprehension, but that's why we're out here explaining to these parents so they are not frantic waiting on line," Wanko said.

A number of parents on line told The Jersey Journal their kids had texted them this morning. Suheil Villegas, whose daughter is a freshman at the school, said she texted her that "people were scared, some of the girls were crying and everybody wants to go home."

Another parent, Anna Flores, said she got texts from her son just after 9 a.m.

"He said there was a shooting threat and a lot of the parents were coming to pick up their kids," she said.

Richard Baccarella, Bayonne High School principal, estimates that 500 kids have been pulled out of school. The school has 2,700 total students.

The hoax has put other high schools throughout the country on edge, including schools in Alabama and Texas. The episode unfolded less than two weeks after a former student at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Florida killed 17 students and faculty members in one of the deadliest mass shootings in U.S. history.

Jersey Journal city editor Patrick Villanova contributed to this report.

Corey W. McDonald may be reached at cmcdonald@jjournal.com. Follow him on Twitter @coreymacc. Find The Jersey Journal on Facebook.