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At some schools students and staff were evacuated, and police surrounded the buildings with gun drawn, like at Central Catholic and Oakland Catholic high schools.
Police were also called— although no guns were drawn— to schools in Bishop Carroll, Altoona Area, Forest Hills and Bellefonte.
Forest Hills School officials released the following statement:
"Due to suspicious activity throughout the region, we have been asked to go on lockdown by the district attorneys office. There has not been a threat made to the school at this time. Action is being taken out of an abundance of caution."
Bellefonte Area School District have cancelled for the remainder of the day, releasing the following statement:
As of 11:30 a.m. the locked downs have happened in Lehigh, North Hampton, Cambria, Blair and Bedford counties.
The “active shooter threats” were called in by telephone, “however, the calls are believed to be computer generated swatting calls,” troopers said and they are simply following protocols.
No active shooter has been found at any location and no one has been harmed.
Around 1 p.m. State Police released a full statement about the swattings reading as follows:
"The Pennsylvania State Police (PSP) is investigating a series of phone calls made to 911 centers about schools across the Commonwealth involving threats of an active shooter situation or bomb threat.These phone calls were made to several schools in different counties. All calls have had similar content. All calls are being thoroughly investigated and responded to by law enforcement.These calls have created lockdowns and/or evacuations of the schools with a large response from police and emergency services.The PSP has responded to all incidents in our primary coverage areas and has been in contact with municipal law enforcement partners investigating these incidents in their coverage areas.At this time, all claims in these calls have been determined to be false. All schools involved have been cleared or are in the process of being cleared by law enforcement.The investigation is ongoing."
These calls come just about 48 hours after seven people were killed at a christian school in Nashville.
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