Pennsylvania police are responding to reports of shootings at multiple schools in the central and western part of the state, but police have reported no injuries, attributing the false reports to “computer generated swatting calls.”
Active shooter threats in Hopewell, Pennsylvania, flooded social media and prompted lockdowns at numerous schools in the region. “Police are investigating reports of an active shooter,” Pittsburgh Public Safety said in a tweet, adding that there is “no evidence” any shootings have taken place, according to CBS News.
UPDATE:
Oakland Catholic students will now rally at St. Paul’s Cathedral.
Central Catholic is still locked down.
there are no reports of injuries at this time. https://t.co/tM23DD8ZiA
— Pittsburgh Public Safety (@PghPublicSafety) March 29, 2023
Parents and students from Central Catholic have been instructed to gather at the Oakland Quad Cathedral of Learning, and Oakland Catholic students and parents are asked to gather at St. Paul Cathedral, according to CBS.
A large police presence has been reported at the University of Pittsburgh campus and at Pittsburgh’s Carnegie Mellon University.
The state police barracks at Hollidaysburg and Rockview indicated they are currently “responding to active shooter threats at local schools that have been called in by telephone.”(RELATED: Country Music Singer Rocked By Nashville School Shooting)
UPDATE🚨: State police are saying 4 schools so far in our area have gotten hoax active shooter calls. Police tell us this is a hoax. So far it’s impacted these 4 schools:
Hopewell
Chalfont
Central Catholic
Oakland Catholic— Officer Lew (@officer_Lew) March 29, 2023
State police believe this to be a hoax at this time, but are taking the threat of a shooting seriously and are responding accordingly.
“We are treating each incident with standard law enforcement protocols,” state police said on Twitter.
“FBI Pittsburgh is aware of the numerous swatting incidents wherein a report of an active shooter at a school is made. The FBI takes swatting very seriously because it puts innocent people at risk,” the local FBI field office said in a statement.
The story continues to develop.