It started with a hoax active shooting call to local police.
An all-boys Catholic prep school went on lockdown, and police swarmed the campus. Some students fled into the surrounding woods. Then, things got worse.
As officers in Danvers, Massachusetts, cleared classrooms and buildings on Monday at St. John’s Preparatory, a school of 1,450 boys in sixth through 12th grade, a shot went off, triggering a larger police response. But it was a police officer who accidentally discharged a weapon in a bathroom of a middle school building, officials said, not an active shooter.
Danvers Police Chief James Lovell said the shot that was fired triggered a heightened law enforcement presence at the school during an already chaotic situation. He said police chiefs at neighboring departments came to offer assistance.
The fake call that an active shooter was on campus came in at about 1:45 p.m. Monday, Head of School Edward Hardiman said at a press conference. The school went on lockdown and students and staff followed procedures that were practiced during drills, he said. The school is believed to be the target of a “swatting” call, officials said.
Our students, our faculty, and staff did exactly what they were supposed to do,” Hardiman said. “This is everybody’s nightmare. Every parent, in the context of our culture today, is concerned that things like this can happen.”
SWATTING CALLS A ‘CRUEL HOAX’: Schools across US hit with dozens of false shooting, bomb threats
Hoax shooting at Massachusetts school caused chaos. Then a cop mistakenly fired a gun.
