Hoax 911 call about Princeton High School shooter appeared to come from a California number
The hoax call reporting an active shooter Friday at Princeton High School was traced to Modesto, California.
The call came in at 10:12 a.m. Police and security in the school were searching for the shooter within minutes.
By 11:19 a.m., authorities in California were at the location tied to the phone number, a retirement apartment complex on the outskirts of the West Coast town about an hour and a half from San Francisco.
Records show police suspected a teen might have made the prank call. But there was no teen there. Instead, they found a 66-year-old man "in very poor health" who said he no longer had that telephone number.
Online services exist that make it possible to make calls that appear as if they are coming from another phone number.
As early as 10:46 a.m., investigators were working on finding who was behind the call, according to documents released by the Hamilton County Communications Center.
The agency released two 911 calls reporting injuries. In the first call, which prompted the response, the caller said 10 students were injured in a classroom next door.
He said the shooter was wearing a red shirt, body armor and grey pants and was armed with an AR-15 rifle. He said the wounded students were in room 199. He said he was next door in room 201.
Usually, the first number of a room indicates the floor the room is on. It is unclear if Princeton High School has a room 199.
The call taker noted the man's heavy accent and said the caller was "acting strange." The man also gave the call taker a phone number with a Modesto, California, area code. The man hung up as the call taker was asking more questions.
The call initially went to Cincinnati's dispatch center and was transferred from the city of Cincinnati.
A second call came in later from out of the area. Records show it was a transfer from Monroe County, though it is unclear if that is Monroe County, Ohio.
This caller stated she received a text from her 14-year-old boyfriend saying two people had been shot at Princeton High School. By this point, police were already clearing the building.
Parents and relatives of Princeton students also called 911 Friday. Several said they could not reach their loved ones and were concerned.
Sharonville police confirmed they are coordinating with the FBI on the investigation into what happened. No suspect information has been released and no details have been released about how the call to Princeton might be connected to the string of other active shooter hoaxes that happened across Ohio and the rest of the country.
This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Hoax 911 call about Princeton High School shooter traced to California
