KETTERING — Students at Archbishop Alter High School went home early after a false report of shots being fired near campus prompted a lockdown on Wednesday.
Kettering Police Chief Christopher Protsman confirmed on scene to News Center 7′s Taylor Robertson that police received a single report of shots fired outside of the school around 8:43 a.m.
>> PHOTOS: Reported shooting prompts lockdown, heavy police presence at Alter High School
Kettering police clarified later Wednesday morning in a statement that the call reported that six students were shot inside a 9th-grade classroom and that the caller was hiding in a classroom.
The call sent Alter High School into lockdown, but the call was later determined to be a false report and a “swatting” incident.
Robertson was on scene as scared and concerned parents arrived at the school to pick up their kids after receiving a One-Call message about the incident.
“I never completed the message. (As) soon as I heard the word ‘shooting,’ I ran to my supervisor,” Carmelo Delgado, an Alter parent, said.
With tears in his eyes, he showed Robertson the texts he received from his son during the lockdown. The first message being a simple “I’m OK.”
Allison Shillito said her One-Call didn’t work and that she found out about the lockdown when her daughter texted her.
“It made my stomach hurt,” she said.
Shillito also has a child a St. Charles, the elementary school next to Alter. It was also put on lockdown.
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“So it was just a little wearing hearing that both schools were on lockdown and having no idea what happened,” she said.
Kettering police were the ones to let her know it was a fake call. Although she was relieved that no shots were fired, she’s still upset that this happened.
“These types of fake calls, I mean, I think that they should get in as much trouble as bringing a gun to school. It’s very triggering, it’s traumatizing,” Shillito said.
Police said Alter High School wasn’t the only school to get targeted by a “swatting” today.
“It appears that a multitude of schools across Ohio and Kentucky also fell victim to a swatting call at around the same time this morning,” Officer Cynthia James, Public Information Officer for Kettering Police, said.
The origin of the call remains under investigation.
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