A juvenile is charged after falsely claiming to see a gunman in the school back in September.
SAN MARCOS, Texas — A suspect was recently arrested in Washington state after allegedly making a false phone call to San Marcos High School earlier this fall.
According to the city of San Marcos, a juvenile was arrested on Dec. 5 in Whitman County, Washington, related to a hoax threat that happened earlier this year.
When was the threat originally made?
On Sept. 24, the San Marcos Police Department answered a call at 3:32 p.m. about a male believed to be holding a gun in the high school hallway. The caller claimed they followed the possible suspect into the school bathroom when two gunshots were heard over the phone.
At roughly 3:58 p.m., the campus was placed in lockdown as “more than 150 personnel from multiple agencies” responded, according to San Marcos police chief Stan Standridge. About 40 minutes later, police determined there was no threat to the campus.
Officers eventually believed the incident was a swatting call, where a false claim is made in an attempt to call upon a large police presence.
The unnamed suspect was charged this month with False Alarm/Report, Terroristic Threat and several other charges related to additional phone calls. One of these calls was aimed at a police department in another state.
Law enforcement said they were able to connect both calls to the suspect after checking his computers and cell phone taken from his residence in Washington.
The San Marcos threat was one of many similar instances that occurred in Central Texas this fall. Others were made at districts including Hays CISD and Austin ISD.