False alarm at Indiana school: Active shooter call triggers lockdown, 2 in custody
Update: Reports of an active shooter at Lake Central High School in St John, Indiana were later proven to be false. A student mistakenly heard someone loading a gun in the bathroom leading to the lockdown and massive search operation at school, reports CBS local. St. John Police Chief Steve Flores said a school resource officer quickly located two students involved in the call and questioned them and determined it was a false alarm.
“While they were in the bathroom, the one student heard a noise of what he though was somebody racking a gun, as he explained it,” Flores said. “This student just said that he heard that, and that’s what he reported to our Lake County 911 dispatch center, and they dispatched it as an active shooter, which was not the case.”
“Once the school was safe, obviously we still wanted to double check it to make sure that we didn’t miss anything, that nothing was found, or they ditched a gun somewhere. So obviously we had to go through room-by-room just to make sure,” Flores said. The chief said police do not expect to file any charges for false reporting, saying even though the boy who called 911 was mistaken about what he heard, he’d “rather be safe than sorry,” had have students report anything that might be suspicious.
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ST JOHN, INDIANA: A high school was put on lockdown in St Johns, Indiana after reports of a shooting emerged on Wednesday, September 8 morning. Officers responded to reports of an active shooter at the Lake Central High School in St John, a suburban area about 40 miles southeast of downtown Chicago. The school was shut down at 10 am. "We have been in lockdown for about an hour. Police are on the scene and we will have more information when it becomes available to us," a statement from Lake Central High said.
Officers launched a room-by-room search at the school, Roger Patz, a spokesman for the St John Police Department informed. "At this point, we don't know what's going on, " he said. A similar incident was reported at Washington Middle School, in Albuquerque, New Mexico, a wherein 13-year-old bully fired six bullets. A sixth-grader girl at Rigby Middle School in Idaho went on a shooting spree injuring three before being arrested in May. Earlier this month, former janitor Kristopher Clay of an Oregon school was arrested for stocking weapons for mass shootings.
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We have been in lockdown for about an hour. Police are on the scene and we will have more information when it becomes available to us.
— Lake Central (@LCHSnews) September 8, 2021
"At this point I can say that there was an initial call of an active shooter at the High School. Officers responded and everyone is safe. Officers are conducting a secondary sweep of the entire campus, but at this time, there are no injuries and everyone is safe," Roger Patz said in an email. Patz further noted that there were at least 25-30 officers at the scene in addition to a SWAT team. School officials confirmed that no shots were fired and no one was injured.
A statement from the school confirmed that two students were taken into custody for questioning. Further details about the incident and the identities of the suspect were not immediately available.
The father of a senior at the school said his daughter sent a text message shortly after 10 am informing that the 'active shooter situation' was announced over the school's public address system. The students were asked to hunch down and were moved to various rooms. "She's in the library right now. She heard a lot of screaming, the father said.