Hoax threat made at Bishop Connolly High School in Fall River: What we know
FALL RIVER — A threatening phone call that turned out to be a hoax prompted a heavy police presence at Bishop Connolly High School and a lockdown of all Fall River public and Catholic schools Tuesday morning.
According to Fall River Police spokesman Sgt. Moses Pereira, on Tuesday morning the Police Department received a telephone call from an unknown individual communicating a threat directed at Bishop Connolly.
This incident happened just hours before the inauguration of Bristol County District Attorney Thomas M. Quinn was set to take place at the Elsbree Street school.
It also came on the heels of other similar reports of threats at schools in Massachusetts, and across the country, over the past two days. So far, all of the threats have been unfounded.
Hoax threats in Massachusetts schools
Threats were called in Tuesday to schools Clinton, Concord, Dedham, Duxbury and Fitchburg. On Monday, police in Massachusetts investigated a number of hoax calls, known as "swatting," that forced lockdowns at high schools in Amesbury, Braintree, Westfield, Chelmsford, Charlestown, East Boston and North Attleborough.
Police say no evidence of any shooters was found upon a search of the schools.
South Shore schools receive threats:Duxbury, Cohasset, Braintree, Hingham hit with hoax school shooter claims: What we know
Fall River police response to school threats
"In order to ensure the safety of the students and staff at the school, we deployed our resources to secure the facility, and investigate the threat," a release from the FRPD states. "The command staff was in communication with the administration at the school through this process. A shelter in place was also initiated for the Fall River Public Schools. Our Officers conducted a search of the property to ensure that there was no threat to the building or its occupants. We have confirmed that there is no threat to the school."
"The Fall River Police Department regards the safety of our community as our highest priority. False reports such as these, will not be tolerated. We will be conducting a detailed and thorough investigation of this incident," Pereira added.
Shortly after noon on Tuesday, the Fall River Public Schools posted on its Facebook page notifying parents that "the situation in the community is resolved. Schools will resume with their normal day-to-day schedules."
Police said they will maintain increased visibility in the area of the city’s schools throughout the remainder of the day.
Swatting and school shooting hoaxes play out nationwide
Schools across Vermont were hit by series of hoax calls last week reporting active shooters in K-12 schools from Alburgh to Bennington, according to Vermont State Police. A total of 21 schools were targeted by the calls from 8:40 a.m. to 10:50 a.m. at the main line of a dispatch center, police department or town office, state police said. Every threat was determined to be unfounded.
Reports of school shootings that proved to be false occurred at schools across Ohio in September 2022, according to reporting by the Cincinnati Enquirer, and in Maine in November, according to reporting by Seacostonline.com. The practice of making the false reports is commonly called swatting.
The false reports in Ohio were similiar and specific, the Enquirer reported. In multiple 911 calls, a man identifying himself as James Park falsely reported a gunman had opened fire and 10 students are wounded. The same calls came in for multiple schools. Other false reports have occurred in Florida, among other states.
On Nov. 15, dispatch centers in 10 communities throughout Maine received what authorities are calling “hoax-style” phone calls that morning alerting them, falsely, to active shooters inside local schools, according to Michael Sauschuck, the commissioner of the state’s Department of Public Safety.
This article originally appeared on The Herald News: Fall River schools in brief lockdown due to hoax threat for Connolly
