'We Will Find You': Anti-Mask Demonstrators Make Threats as Tennessee School Board Mandates Masks

Anti-mask demonstrators in Tennessee’s Williamson County heckled and threatened people in favor of masks, including medical professionals, after a school board meeting during which members voted to reintroduce a mask mandate in elementary schools.

With cases of the Delta variant surging across the state, the Williamson County Board of Education called a special session in Franklin to vote on a temporary mandate, and to hear from various members of the community.

Many speaking in favor of the mandate were doctors and nurses, some of whom also identified themselves as parents of schoolchildren. At numerous points during the meeting, anti-mask demonstrators jeered and shouted as people spoke in favor of the measures, prompting board chair Nancy Garrett to order some people to be removed by security.

As people in favor of masks exited the meeting, anti-mask demonstrators gathering outside chanted “we’ll not comply” and “no more masks,” while some followed one man to his vehicle.

“There is a place in hell for you guys. There is a bad place in hell and everybody’s taking notes, buddy,” one man shouted as he followed the man to this car. “We know who you are! You will never be allowed in public again!” he yelled through the car window.

Another demonstrator urged him to “stay peaceful” and “calm,” before leaning toward the driver’s window and telling the man “we will find you” and “you can leave in peace, but we know who you are.”

In a separate video, a Williamson County Sheriff’s Office sergeant pleaded with the crowd, saying he was “begging” them to remain peaceful. “We are here for everybody’s safety. We are here for y’all just as much as we are here for everybody else,” he said. “We are here, we are away from our families, some of us are on a 17-, almost an 18-hour day, and that’s me,” he added. Credit: Matt Masters/Williamson Home Page via Storyful