MILWAUKEE — Instead of worrying about school, students across Wisconsin on Thursday were forced to worry about their safety after bogus threats about active shooters put schools in lockdown.
One of those schools was Rufus King High School, which had a heavy response from police following the hoax call.
Students there say it started off as a normal school day until an announcement came on the loudspeaker saying there was a code red.
“Our teachers turned off the lights, did everything in procedure, and we had to be in the corner of the class,” said ninth grader, Chelsey Long.
Students were in lockdown for over 30 minutes while police swept the premises and confirmed the threat was fake.
“They were knocking on our door on the third floor, the police,” said student Eliyah Sanders. “We didn’t know if we wanted to answer or not because we were like what are they here for?”
RELATED ARTICLES:
- False active shooter threats reported at schools across SE Wisconsin, Milwaukee
- False active shooter threats take an emotional toll on Southeast Wisconsin families
- What penalties could you face for swatting?
Tre Wilson said he was relieved when we found out the threat wasn’t legitimate.
“I thought it was real 'cause it was a whole bunch of police coming in with guns and stuff and I was scared," he said.
It was one of over half a dozen fake calls made to schools in southeastern Wisconsin alone.
Sinjin Xiong was also forced to lock down at his school because of the same call.
“It’s concerning that people think it’s okay to make false reports that there’s either a shooter in the school or something bad is gonna happen,” said Xiong.
Students say it was hard to focus on school after going through that.
The Menomonee Falls School District says it appears some of the fake calls came from outside of the country. Other states, like Minnesota and Florida, have also experienced fake threats to their schools.
