In a call that came in to the Franklin Police Department’s dispatch center Thursday morning, a male voice claimed to be a person inside Franklin High School, and told the dispatch supervisor he had just shot multiple students.
In reality, the report was untrue, but Franklin Police – like many others around the state – quickly responded, students were evacuated from the building and nearby schools placed on lockdown.
“We were pretty convinced it wasn’t an actual shooting, but certainly that didn’t slow down our response in any way,” Franklin Police Chief David Goldstein said Friday. “We’re still going to go, we’re still going to deploy, no matter what the situation.”
The FBI is now leading the investigation into multiple hoax 911 calls that falsely reported active shooters at New Hampshire schools and other schools nationwide Thursday.
In a statement, the FBI said it is working to find out who is behind the fake calls, but declined to provide details about the investigation, as it is still in progress. False reports intended to get police officers to respond to a particular address is often referred to as “swatting.”
“The FBI is aware of the numerous swatting incidents wherein a report of an active shooter at a school is made, and is working alongside our law enforcement partners in identifying the source of the hoax threats,” the FBI statement said. “Investigating hoax threats drains law enforcement resources and diverts us from responding to an actual crisis. Hoax threats can shut down schools, cause undue stress and fear to the public, and cost taxpayers a lot of money.”
New Hampshire Department of Safety’s Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Management confirmed at least five other New Hampshire schools received threats Thursday, including schools in Littleton, Dover, Portsmouth, Claremont and Lebanon.
But even beyond the Granite State, news outlets in other states reported a similar barrage of hoax shooting calls this week, including in Oklahoma, Colorado and West Virginia. In Oklahoma, at least 10 communities got similar hoax calls Thursday, in which a caller claimed there was an active shooter at a school and then provided no further details, according to a report from the Oklahoma Public Media Exchange.
School shooting hoax calls appear to be increasing across the U.S. this fall. NPR reported last month that nearly 200 schools in 28 states were targeted with hoax calls about school shootings between mid-September and late October.
In the call that Concord Police received on Thursday, the person on the other end of the line claimed to be inside St. John’s Regional School, and also reported that students had already been shot, according to Deputy Police Chief John Thomas. St. John’s students, who weren’t even in the building at the time the report had been made, sheltered in place at the parish next door while police investigated. The call was quickly deemed to be fake.
Vanessa Palange, the public information officer for the Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Management, said the division is frequently in touch with emergency management officials in neighboring New England states to discuss and share information on matters like this. Last month, Maine experienced hoax shooter calls at more than 10 school districts.
While fake, the calls demonstrated the preparedness of the state’s schools.
“We saw schools using their emergency operation plans to respond to the calls,” said Robert Buxton, Director of the Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Management. “These incidents continue to show us why it is important for schools to conduct trainings and exercises on those plans, throughout the school year, in partnership with their local first responders.”