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Update 6:30 p.m.: Palo Alto police say Monday’s shelter-in-place at Gunn High and Fletcher Middle schools were the result of multiple hoax calls claiming threats to the high school that were unfounded.
Students and staff were confirmed safe and allowed to be released at regular school times around 4 p.m. on Monday after police placed the Gunn High School and Fletcher Middle School campuses under lockdown to investigate what they said was an “unconfirmed threat” toward the high school, police said.
The department issued a news release shortly after 2:30 p.m. saying that all students and staff were safe. However, given the threat, officers placed the campus at 780 Arastradero Road under “shelter-in-place” status while they investigated the campus.
As a precautionary measure, police also placed Fletcher Middle School campus at 655 Arastradero Road under shelter-in-place status. They did so because of its proximity to Gunn, according to the news release.
By 3:41 p.m., Palo Alto police tweeted that they had completed their search of the high school and no threats were found. According to police, they lifted the shelter-in-place order in time for students to be dismissed at the normal 3:50 p.m. Police also confirmed there was no threat directed at the Fletcher campus.
A 6:15 p.m. news release gave further insights into the day’s events, saying two separate callers phoned police dispatch reporting a person with a rifle walking toward Gunn High School. The release says the school received a bomb threat at the same time. All three calls, police say, were hoaxes, and they are working to identify the suspects, the release says.
The release says the two initial calls included information that led police to believe they may be hoaxes, but officers responded treating them as legitimate. The two male callers, police say, claimed they had seen a teen boy walking toward to the school with a rifle strapped to his back and carrying two pipe bombs.
The third caller was also male, police say, who provided a name and birth date that appeared fake to police.
“Hoax threats and false reports of emergencies are not only criminal in nature, but they also create a great deal of stress and anxiety for students, parents, school staff, and the community in general,” the release states.
Police say they are actively working to identify the callers and determine if the calls are related to a similar event reported today at a high school in Orinda.
“Anyone found responsible for such hoax calls can face criminal charges, as well as potential civil liability as a cost recovery measure for the law enforcement response,” the release states.
On the phone with a parent receiving texts from the district. Says the lockdown is over.
What a hassle for law enforcement to have to search the entire school just because some kid probably didn’t want to go to school.
Real nice of you to think about the poor officers having to search an entire school, and not the terrified students and staff under threat.
A threat, whether a true one or not, must be confirmed before all else. What kind of world would we live in if firemen stopped searching houses for gas leak reports? Or lazy police officers deemed gunshots to be balloons?
Making brainless comments online, because there are no consequences, is the old new normal. The new new normal is acting “IRL” like one does online. That probably is what was behind the threat. It’s also what is behind real threats when they occur. Parents have a responsibility, here, too, to raise kids that know better than that. I think we all know that right now, the majority of parents don’t know better than that.
Just glad everyone is safe.