Скачать или смотреть Hoax swatting calls force many North Iowa schools on lockdown

(ABC 6 News) – Several schools in northern Iowa and across the state went on lockdown Tuesday morning after receiving threats of shootings which turned out to be fake.

The Mason City Police Department said dispatch received a call of a shooting at Mason City High School. Officers responded and found the school was secure and operating normally.

The Clear Lake Police Department received a phone call at 9:35 a.m. on Tuesday stating two people were shot at the Clear Lake High School. The call was received over the department’s administrative phone lines, not 911. While officers were responding to the reported incident, contact was made with school officials who did not know of any issues occurring. The high school was placed into lockdown until the incident could be investigated.

While officers were at the scene, CLPD received a message from the Iowa Department of Homeland Security regarding school shooting swatting calls occurring throughout the state.

Clear Lake officers and school officials checked the buildings and area. CLPD will provide increased patrols to the schools throughout the rest of the week. The incident remains under investigation.

The Charles City Police Department said its officers along with the Floyd County Sheriff’s Office responded to the high school and middle school for a threat call which was determined to be a hoax.

Captain Brandon Franke with the Charles City police department says the responses is standard practice.

“Obviously we’re going to respond as if it is a legit call just because we don’t know at that time,” Franke said.

Franke wants parents and the public to know that real or fake, their response is the same.

“if the call does come in we’re gonna respond. We’re gonna check things out and make sure everybody’s safe. I really don’t understand what they’re trying to prove with these types of calls,” Franke explained.

Other schools around Iowa reported similar incidents. In Clinton County, the Clinton Police Department responded to a reported shooting at the high school. The school said there was no evidence of any shooting and the school was cleared. However, the school did cancel classes for the day.

In Muscatine, police reported that the high school and a local elementary school had been swatted. Police say the call was made outside of Iowa. Both schools went into a temporary lockdown until police determined there was no credible threat.

A statement made by the school district and distributed by police says the threat “also referenced a staff member’s name that does not exist within our high school or district.”