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By MEG HERNDON | Staff Writer

CALERA – A “Death Note” emulator has many Calera parents concerned following an explosive few days in Trussville related to similar issues.

The Calera Police Department posted on Facebook that Calera Middle School staff notified a school resource officer about a notebook that was discovered that appeared to imitate the “Death Note” notebook from the show of the same name.

Death Note is a Japanese anime that follows the story of a teen who finds a notebook that grants the owner the supernatural ability to kill anyone whose name is written in the book.

After being notified, The CPD immediately began investigating the incident in conjunction with the school and conferred with the district attorney’s office, it said in its Facebook post made Wednesday, Sept. 28.

Calera Middle School also released a statement for parents regarding the issue.

“We want you to be aware of a situation that we have been investigating concerning a notebook from a (sic.) television series which mentioned specific students,” Jennifer Nabors, Calera Middle School’s assistant principal said. “The parents of the students mentioned in this notebook have been notified.”

Nabors said that the school is addressing the issue in its Code of Conduct and the investigation has found the threat not to be credible as the time of the release of the statement.

“We take threats very seriously and have worked in conjunction with law enforcement in addressing the matter,” Nabors’ statement read.

This incident follows the recent news that Hewitt-Trussville High School principal Tim Salem was placed on administrative leave following community anger over the schools handling of threats consisting of a similar “Death Note” notebook.

The threats were kept secret for close to a year after being found and reported in October 2021, and it was not until mid-September 2022 that the Hewitt-Trussville High School’s SRO and the Trussville Police Department were informed about the incident.

Allegedly, the notebook in Trussville had a list of 30 students’ names and led to the student being charged with a felony that was dropped. The case against the Trussville student is closed.