Fact check: Report of active shooter at Pennsylvania high school is a hoax
The claim: There was an active shooter at a Pennsylvania high school on March 29
A March 29 Facebook post (direct link, archive link) warned of a dangerous situation purportedly unfolding at a Pennsylvania high school.
“Active shooter at Hopewell high school,” reads the post. “Check on your peoples.”
The post was shared more than 200 times in less than a day.
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Our rating: False
The school was one of several in the state targeted by active shooter hoax calls on March 29. It went on lockdown while police searched the scene, but no shooter or victims were found.
Several other districts targeted by false shooter reports on same day
David Lozier, the district attorney for Beaver County, told USA TODAY a caller reported to local police that they were hiding in a bathroom and that there were six casualties at the high school.
“Calls to personnel in the school found that none of the personnel reached had heard shots or were aware of an event,” Lozier said. “Police were nonetheless alerted.”
Police began to clear the campus and shortly thereafter received another call saying the shooter was at the nearby Hopewell Memorial Junior High School, prompting a search and subsequent clearance of that campus as well.
Students at both campuses were taken to a local shopping center, where they were bussed home, released to their families or permitted to retrieve their cars, according to a statement from Jeff Beltz, the superintendent of the Hopewell Area School District.
Beltz on March 27 had informed parents of an incident that took place several days prior in which police received reports of a minor with a “potential weapon” near one of the district’s elementary schools, as reported by the Beaver County Times. No injuries were reported and the incident was under investigation.
The FBI and Pennsylvania State Police are working to identify the source of the hoax calls and determine whether they are related to numerous other false shooter reports at schools across the state the same day, Lozier said.
State police said the hoaxes appeared to be "computer-generated swatting calls," as reported by WTAE-TV in Pittsburgh.
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USA TODAY debunked similar claims of active shooters on school campuses in North Carolina and Ohio just a few weeks prior to the Pennsylvania swatting calls.
Though no shooting actually happened in any of them, Lozier said the impact of such events is still “immense” for students and staff.
“They were terrified, hoax or not,” he said.
The claim comes two days after a shooter killed six people, including three children, at a Christian elementary school in Nashville, Tennessee.
USA TODAY reached out to the user who shared the claim for comment.
Our fact-check sources:
David Lozier, March 29, Email exchange with USA TODAY
Hopewell Area School District, March 29, Facebook post
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, March 29, ‘A major sigh of relief’ after false reports of active shooters at Pittsburgh-area schools
WTAE-TV, March 29, Police across Pennsylvania respond to active shooter hoax calls at school districts
Beaver County Times, March 28, Police investigating incident involving juvenile found with ‘potential weapon’ on Friday
Beaver County Times, March 29, Hopewell, New Castle among school districts targeted by wave of fake ‘swatting’ calls
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This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Fact check: Pennsylvania schools targeted by active shooter hoaxes
