FORT BEND COUNTY, Texas – Three students have been arrested after Lamar CISD says they received fake calls about a “potential threat” at one of their campuses Thursday afternoon, according to the district.
Deputies with the Fort Bend County Sheriff’s Office responded to reports of an active shooter at George Ranch High School, but said they found no signs of any shooting taking place.
As a precaution. deputies scanned the area and determined the call was most likely a “false” call.
“Swatting calls take away vital county resources from those who truly need emergency assistance,” said Fort Bend County Sheriff Eric Fagan. “If the FBCSO finds anyone making such calls, we will seek charges.”
Lamar CISD said campuses were immediately locked down when they learned about the threat. And in addition, the neighboring middle school and junior high school were placed in secure status. During Secure status, the outside doors are locked, but the campus continues to operate as normal on the inside.
The district said they learned the false call was made by three students who are now in custody.
“The investigation is ongoing and once complete and submitted to us, we will consider all relevant charges at that time. That timeline will depend upon where the investigation takes law enforcement. We did assist law enforcement as needed as it developed,” the Fort Bend County District Attorney said.
The district released the following statement regarding the incident:
“This afternoon, Lamar CISD received information from Fort Bend Police Officials that they were en route to George Ranch High School in response to a potential threat that was called into them.
As a standard procedure, the campus immediately went into Lockdown. During a lockdown, all of the outside and inside doors to a campus are locked.
In addition, we placed the neighboring middle school and junior high school in a Secure status. During Secure status, the outside doors are locked, but the campus continues to operate as normal on the inside.
Within 30 minutes, law officials on the scene determined that there was no active, credible threat. In addition, they were able to identify the source of the initial call(s) and determined that it came from three students – two of which are now in custody.
We are thankful for the swift response and support of the Fort Bend County Sherriff’s Department and our campus and district police officers.
As a result of today’s disruption, we will have an increased police presence on campus today as well as members of the Counseling Response Team to support staff and students who may need it. While the threat was determined to be a hoax, we understand that our staff and students have very real emotions as a result of their experience and we always want to take care of each other.
I want to emphasize, again, that the safety of our students and staff is always our first priority. We’re proud of the culture of safety that we’ve built at George Ranch High School and we’re committed to maintaining a safe school environment for all of our students.”