The disturbing trend involves calling in fake school shootings. NBC 5’s Ben Russell tells us how law enforcement is responding.
Police in several Texas cities responded to a rash of hoax calls reporting active shooters at area colleges and universities on Thursday morning.
Plano Police said they responded to a call about a mass shooting at Collin College's Plano campus at about 9:45 a.m. Officers rushed to the school and searched the campus but found no sign of a shooting or any injured people.
Student, Anthony Ekes was in class working on a project when he first noticed authorities on campus.
"I looked out the window. I saw a fire truck, and I didn't think much of it," Ekes said. "I went out to the door to, like, go to the bathroom, and... an administrator was like, 'No, you need to go back into the room.'"
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According to Ekes, they were later told to evacuate immediately.
"There was maybe like like ten or so like ambulances and a bunch of cop cars," Ekes said.
Meanwhile, his friend Benjamin Trevino was trying to enter campus.
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"I was pulling into the school and tons of cop cars were flying past into the entrance I was trying to get into," Trevino said. "I was immediately thinking the worst.."
Trevino was instructed to turn around.
While no threat was determined, Collin College Plano Campus announced the remainder of Thursday's classes were canceled.
At Texas Wesleyan University in Fort Worth, students and faculty were told to shelter in place due to an emergency situation on campus. The university said Fort Worth Police responded and searched the campus but found no evidence of an emergency.
Texas A&M Police in College Station said reports of an active shooter at the Health Science Center on Thursday were a hoax and that there was no active threat to the campus.
In East Texas, KETK-TV reported multiple people were said to have been shot inside a technology building at Tyler Junior College at about 10:30 a.m. Tyler Police arrived at the school and searched the campus but found no evidence that a shooting took place.
Similar incidents were reported at Baylor University in Waco, Del Mar College in Corpus Christi, and the Galen College of Nursing in San Antonio. All of the threats were determined to be hoaxes.
Police have not linked the cases together or named any suspects in the hoax calls.
The Texas Department of Public Safety told NBC 5 they are, "continuously monitoring events and their impact on public safety. While we do not discuss operational specifics, DPS will continue to work with local law enforcement and adjust operations as needed [to] address any potential threats."
Last month, the Associated Press reported a spate of threats and false reports of shooters had been pouring into schools and colleges across the country for months, raising concerns among law enforcement and elected leaders.
WHAT IS SWATTING?
THE FBI says "swatting" is the act of making a hoax call to 911 to draw a response from law enforcement, usually a SWAT team.
Hundreds of cases of swatting occur annually, with some callers using spoofing technology to disguise their numbers.
An FBI official said in November 2022 that they believe the wave of false threats focused on schools may be coming from outside of the country. The agency said in March that they were monitoring the reports of swatting cases nationwide.
“While we have no information to indicate a specific and credible threat, we will continue to work with our local, state, and federal law enforcement partners to gather, share, and act upon threat information as it comes to our attention,” the statement said.
Few regions of the country have been spared from such calls and the disruptions they cause. The false calls lead to lockdowns or evacuations in schools or public areas as law enforcement must take each call seriously.
