A lockdown at Erie High School is actually part of a larger issue, police from across the state were responding to fake calls of school shootings.
Now, there’s an ongoing investigation involving these hoax swatting calls.
Members of local law enforcement responded to an active shooter call at Erie High School.
However, during the lockdown authorities quickly discovered this was a swatting incident; “swatting” is a term used when someone makes a fake report trying to prompt a large-scale response by police.
The Erie School District Police Force and City of Erie Police determined there was no shooter or threat to students’ safety.
“This has been going on in other places around the state we were in contact with Pennsylvania State Police, so we’ll work with our state and federal partners to ultimately find out who did this,” said Rick Lorah, deputy chief of police for the City of Erie.
The supervisor for school and community safety at Erie’s Public Schools said they have improved their response to this kind of situation.
Especially after the shooting at Erie High in April of last year.
“We have implemented both physical and procedural changes to make the students, visitors and staff safer at Erie High School. So, the implementation of metal detectors, the implementation of a security screening process,” said Matthew Parker, supervisor of school and community safety.
One parent who was aware of the 911 hoax said he was still concerned for his son’s safety.
“That’s the reason I came so quick because, you know, seeing what happened at the Christian school and plus what happened here last year, we don’t want history to repeat itself so I had to get up here and see,” said Carlos Tate, a parent of an Erie High School Student.
While no one was injured or put in danger, some students said it was frightening to go into lockdown.
One student said her teacher did his best to protect her class.
“I was hiding under my desk there wasn’t really much to do because I was upstairs,” said Natalie Ollom, an Erie High School student. “He knew to stay calm, try to keep everyone calm and stuff he let everyone know not to be too loud. He did everything he should do. Shut doors make sure its quiet lock everything.”