An unmarked car and state trooper exit the campus in a line of officer vehicles. The active shooter response was based on a false report to 911. No shooter was on the NCSSM campus and no one was injured.Â
An unmarked car and state trooper exit the campus in a line of officer vehicles. The active shooter response was based on a false report to 911. No shooter was on the NCSSM campus and no one was injured.Â
A fake active shooter call resulted in an immediate response from officers earlier today.
On Friday, at approximately 12:20 p.m., the Burke County 911 Call Center received a report of an active shooter threat at the North Carolina School of Science and Mathematics in Morganton, but when more than 40 officers across multiple agencies responded within minutes, they found no threat.
According to school officials, the lockdown lasted 30 minutes before they were given clearance from local police. All local schools have since been cleared from lockdown.
“Though we had seen no signs of trouble, we immediately initiated our lockdown procedure and coordinated with local law enforcement to conduct a thorough search of all campus buildings to confirm there was no actual threat,” said Emily Cunard, NCSSM-Morganton director of communications.
Surrounding local schools also went into lockdown as a safety precaution following a notification at 12:22 p.m. The Burke County Public Schools that were on shutdown included North Liberty, Forest Hill Elementary, Mull Elementary, Salem Elementary, Liberty Middle School, Patton High School, and Freedom High School.
Table Rock Middle School also did a soft lockdown out of an “abundance of caution,” said BCPS officials.
Ryan Lander, chief of Morganton Department of Public Safety, said, “This is a prime example of how well all law enforcement agencies work together in a time of crisis. I am proud of how the situation was handled today. Thank you to all our law enforcement and emergency management crews.”
A MDPS officer leaves the scene after lockdown was lifted.Â
JACOB CHRISTOPHER / THE PAPER
Agencies involved in the response include the MDPS, the Broughton Police Department, the Burke County Sheriff’s Office, State Highway Patrol, Burke County Emergency Services, and NCSSM.
“Hallelujah that this is what it was,” Morganton Public Information Officer Jonelle Sigmon said. “This is what we train for. Thank goodness it wasn’t any worse than it was.”
Although police have not identified a suspect, NCSSM-Morganton said a similar false threat occurred on Tuesday at their campus in Durham, where Durham police found no signs of danger either.
“In both cases, NCSSM is cooperating with law enforcement as they investigate these false, malicious, and disruptive reports and whether the two incidents may be connected,” Cunard said.
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Keep it Clean. Please avoid obscene, vulgar, lewd, racist or sexually-oriented language.
PLEASE TURN OFF YOUR CAPS LOCK.
Don't Threaten. Threats of harming another person will not be tolerated.
Be Truthful. Don't knowingly lie about anyone or anything.
Be Nice. No racism, sexism or any sort of -ism that is degrading to another person.
Be Proactive. Use the 'Report' link on each comment to let us know of abusive posts.
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