FBI investigating ‘swatting’ incident at Ohio high school
By Danielle Dindak
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CINCINNATI (WLWT) — The Federal Bureau of Investigations is the lead agency investigating a hoax active shooter call at Princeton High School after similar calls were made across Ohio and the nation.
Sharonville Police Department is coordinating with the FBI.
“We’ll be following up because all of our parents and students here were victims of this, but in terms of the lead, because it’s going to cross state lines and all these other jurisdictions, it’ll be the federal agency,” Lt. Walter Cordes said.
On Monday, local first responders held debrief on the incident.
Law enforcement, the school district, and other agencies that responded came to the table to discuss what went well and what could be improved.
“The number of resources that were able to mobilize so quickly happened without us even asking,” Lt. Walter Cordes said. “When that radio broadcast came out that something like this may have happened, first responders rolled deep.”
According to Lt. Cordes, agencies across Hamilton County responded.
“We had over 100 police officers that really converged and swarmed on this,” Lt. Walter Cordes said. “Everyone’s lucky and thankful that this wasn’t an actual event. However, the panic that was caused was something we need to work on and manage along with better communication with the community.”
Sharonville police were dispatched for a report of an active shooter at Princeton Highschool after a chilling call was made to 911. The caller had a thick accent and described themselves to be a student.
“He opened fire on our classroom. Ten students got injured next to our classroom,” the caller said.
Dozens of law enforcement agencies swarmed Princeton High School. The situation sent students and parents into a panic. The school was on lockdown and swept as police investigated.
It was unknown at the time that false calls were also made across Ohio and the country.
“There are many risks involved when you get a call like this,” Lt. Cordes said. “We’re not hesitating to show up to it. So we’re doing everything we can to get there as quickly as possible because we all have kids too.”
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