Police responded to Windsor Locks Middle School Friday for a report of an active shooter that turned out to be a “swatting” hoax. Windsor Locks was one of several towns to receive the hoax “swatting” calls about active shooters at schools on Friday.
Friday was a troubling day for schools across the state as officials estimated 17 Connecticut schools received threats of active shooters throughout the morning.
“Now I’m going to be more worried when we have it again, because then we might think it’s going to be real because it happened once–it’s going to happen again,” said Manha Mohsin, sixth grader at Windsor Locks Middle School.
At Windsor Locks Middle School, police deemed everyone safe just before noon after the school, along with others in the district, were sent into lockdown. Police responded to the active shooter threat within minutes at around 10 a.m.
“I’m just going to go home and I’m going to hug all my babies really tight and let them know how much I love them,” said Courtney Turner, who has three kids in the Windsor Locks system.
Get top local stories in Connecticut delivered to you every morning. Sign up for NBC Connecticut's News Headlines newsletter.
Windsor Locks Police confirmed in a press release that the threat was an act of “swatting,” designed to “misdirect, deplete and exhaust first responder resources.”
“Officer’s teamed up in a pod, made entry into the school and cleared the school. It was during this time that it became relatively evident that it was probably more likely a swatting call,” said Det. Sgt. Jeff Lampson of Windsor Locks Police.
Local
“These are our kids, and to see these kids walk out of the building with tears in the eyes–this is their safe place,” said Windsor Locks First Selectman Paul Harrington.
“Swatting” is a growing problem, and on Friday alone, schools including Groton, Enfield, East Hartford, Stamford, Darien and more received similar fake calls.
“I don’t know how I can comfortably send my kid back to school after something like this,” Turner said.
The Connecticut Education Association said in a statement that the problem is nationwide, with school districts in New Jersey, California, Florida and more receiving similar swatting calls over the last few weeks.
“We treat it as an active shooter. We don’t go in there role playing. We don’t know. It takes a drain on everybody,” Lampson said.
Windsor Police said they’re currently investigating the source behind the threat, but as of Friday, did not confirm whether these swatting calls made throughout the state were linked.
