On Wednesday, threats of bombings and school shootings were made to at least 20 schools throughout Vermont, but authorities believe every single one of them was a hoax.
Around 10 a.m. in Montpelier, police were called to the high school due to reports of a shooting and two students being injured. A total of 50 police officers from several departments swarmed to the school, which was placed on lockdown. No one was hurt, and there were no weapons, when police searched the school.
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According to the Vermont Agency of Education, these calls appear to be prank calls coming from VOIP phone numbers that were changed to 802 numbers for Onvoy, LLC. They claim that the calls are a part of an ongoing national hoax that targets school communities by falsely reporting bomb threats and school shootings.
Law enforcement officials and students from Montpelier High School were interviewed.
“We train with active alerts and several other agencies to train for active shooter incidents, Sgt. Charles Winn of the Vermont State Police remarked, “We train for this for years.”
Merrick Modun, a senior at MHS, said,“I think it’s definitely an unreal situation, but it’s a situation that so many people across this state and this country have to deal with all the time.”
Numerous schools around the state, including those in Colchester and South Burlington, reportedly received police assistance. On Wednesday morning in the nation’s capital, a small group of observers watched as multiple emergency cars flashed their red and blue lights in the parking lot across from Montpelier High School.
There was a “report of some kind of gunfire,” according to Barre Deputy Police Chief Larry Eastman, who was on the scene, but he “knew that it was not true.”
According to South Burlington Police Chief Shawn Burke, the event at Rice Memorial may have been a case of “swatting,” which is when someone makes a hoax call in an effort to attract a lot of law enforcement personnel to a place.
“We understand that these reports are wide spread in Vermont,” The continued. At a news conference set for noon, the governor, state education, and law enforcement officials will discuss the fake calls.
