Several facilities were placed on a “hold” or lockdown status as a result of the reports, which sparked law enforcement responses.
SAN ANTONIO — Routine operations at several San Antonio-area schools have been disrupted over the last two days when callers reported active shooters or other incidents, resulting in law enforcement responses to facilities at Uvalde CISD and Edgewood ISD.
Morales Junior High and Uvalde High School in Uvalde were both placed on a “Hold Status” Thursday afternoon as authorities arrived to “sweep the campus,” officials said. Meanwhile, San Antonio Police Department personnel went to Kennedy High School around the same time when someone called to report an “active shooter,” a response that also placed nearby Brentwood STEAM School of Innovation on a “precautionary lockdown.”
Both situations, district officials later reported, were found to be hoax or swatting calls, meaning they were found to be a fake or hoax call to emergency services designed to get a response from the SWAT team.
On Friday, the same districts were again targeted.
Uvalde CISD took to Facebook to say the sheriff’s office “received a report of an active shooter in the restroom at Dalton Elementary just after 2 p.m.,” leading to a contingent of personnel from the Uvalde Police Department, Texas Department of Public Safety and Uvalde CISD PD responding to secure the campus. The district said it didn’t go into a lockdown “as not active threat was detected on or around the campus.”
And Edgewood ISD said Gardendale Early Learning, near South General McMullen and Castroville Road, was also the subject of a “call about an active threat” later found to be another hoax.
Uvalde CISD also said it was making counseling services available to students at Uvalde High and Morales Junior High schools from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m. Friday. The Uvalde Together Resilience Center – organized in the wake of the Robb Elementary School massacre in May 2022 – notified the community about additional support Friday and Saturday.
It’s far from the first swatting calls to impact South Texas schools in recent weeks. In October, a swatting call for bomb threat centered around Southwest High School spurred police to respond, and last August authorities in Kendall County responded to a call for a shooting that was later found to be another swatting situation.
According to law enforcement experts, many swatting calls come from out of state. In December, a Washington state juvenile was arrested in connection with a report of an active shooter at San Marcos High School that was later found to be fake.
Most districts will be off Monday for Martin Luther King Jr. Day.