Police sent to Erie High on bogus school shooting report as hoaxes hit other Pa. schools

A call to emergency services about a reported shooting at Erie High School sent a legion of city police officers racing to the high school on Cherry Street on Wednesday morning.

The reports of a shooting turned out to be bogus, and were likely part of a bigger "swatting" hoax in which other school districts across the state were targeted, Erie Police Chief Dan Spizarny said.

Statewide issue: Hoax swatting calls bring police, lockdowns to schools throughout Pennsylvania. What we know

Pennsylvania State Police confirmed late Wednesday morning that similar hoax shootings were reported all over the state.

Among the other schools affected were the Meadville Area Senior High School and Meadville Area Middle School complex in Crawford County, according to the Crawford Central School District.

Lockdowns occurred, the police investigated and the shooting reports turned out to be hoaxes, the district said.

The first calls of a reported shooting at Erie High were received at 10:46 a.m. Wednesday, according to Erie County 911. Spizarny said he was just leaving an active shooter drill that was being conducted at EmergyCare headquarters on Peach Street when he was alerted to the calls at the high school, and he raced to the building.

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The Erie School District put the high school on a hard lockdown after the shooting was reported, the district reported on its Facebook page.

Police said they quickly determined that there was no shooting at the high school, and soon learned that other school districts across Pennsylvania and reportedly received similar calls Wednesday morning as part of a "swatting" hoax.

The hoax involves fraudulently calling 911 to send emergency responders, including police, to a location on a reported emergency.

Erie School District police, Erie police responded

The Erie School District police force, which has 19 full-time and four part-time officers, also responded. Students at Erie High were in lockdown in their classrooms for about 45 minutes while police searched the school, said Matt Parker, the school district's supervisor of school and community safety. The 500,000-square-foot school enrolls 2,245 students, but a number of the students take online classes and were not in the building.

Parker said the initial call from 911 reported "that there were shots fired and victims at Erie High School." He said police "were able to determine that we did not have any shots fired and there were no victims, and we continued the investigation process."

Parker said the school district notified parents of the lockdown through social media.

Spizarny said one of two people who called 911 to report an incident at Erie High School Wednesday morning was someone who was inside the building. Police identified and spoke to the person, and determined that the person called 911 after hearing a commotion inside the building. That person was not reporting a shooting and was not part of what police determined was a hoax, according to Erie police.

PSP says all 'swatting' calls on Wednesday were hoaxes

Pennsylvania State Police said the "swatting" hoaxes at school statewide on Wednesday included bomb threats as well as reports of shootings.

"These phone calls were made to several schools in different counties," the state police said in a statement released at about 12:15 p.m. "All calls have had similar content. All calls are being thoroughly investigated and responded to by law enforcement.

"These calls have created lockdowns and/or evacuations of the schools with a large response from police and emergency services.

"At this time, all claims in these calls have been determined to be false. All schools involved have been cleared or are in the process of being cleared by law enforcement. The investigation is ongoing."

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Erie school safety chief says all threats investigated

At Erie High, police remained at the school for a little less than 30 minutes before clearing the area after determining the call was a hoax.

The "swatting" hoax occurred two days after the mass shooting at a private Presbyterian grade school in Nashville, Tennessee. Six people — three children and three staff members — were killed. Police fatally shot the shooter within minutes of the first call of an active shooter at the school.

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The hoax at Erie High also occurred nearly a year after a student at the school shot another student in a hallway. That incident happened on April 5.

Parker, the Erie School District security chief, said the school district police and Erie police are prepared to investigate any threats or other incidents at the schools. He said the police consider any threat "to be accurate until we determine otherwise."

Contact Tim Hahn at thahn@timesnews.com. Follow him on Twitter @ETNhahn.

Contact Ed Palattella at epalattella@timesnews.com. Follow him on Twitter @ETNpalattella.

This article originally appeared on Erie Times-News: Hoax shooting sends police to Erie High as 'swatting' hits statewide