SANTA CRUZ, Calif. (KCBS RADIO) – Santa Cruz High School was placed on lockdown Thursday morning, however police later said there was "no sign" of a previously reported active shooter on campus and school officials are confident the situation was a "hoax."
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An anonymous caller at approximately 9:33 a.m. told police that there was an active shooter at the school and someone was firing shots inside a classroom and injured multiple students, police said. According to the school, the classroom named by the anonymous caller doesn't exist.
The report led to hundreds of law enforcement officers from multiple agencies arriving on the scene and the school was placed on lockdown.
Just before 10:30 a.m., the school posted on Instagram that the "comments made by the person who called in the threat make us confident that it is a hoax. all students are safe and in lockdown. we will update on the school website as we get new information."
Police tweeted at 10:45 a.m. that "at this time, it is not evident that there was an active shooter and no injured persons have been located. Reunification area for parents & teens is at Depot Park."
Escalante reiterated at his news conference shortly after 11 a.m. that police swept the entire high school and found "no sign" of shots fired or anyone injured.
Streets around the school were blocked off. The campus was eventually entirely cleared and students were reunited with their parents at Depot Park, which was a few blocks away from the school.
In addition, surrounding schools were also placed under a shelter-in-place order "out of an abundance of caution," Santa Cruz City Schools Superintendent Kris Munro said.
The case is still under investigation. One person "in the middle of the campus" was detained, but there's no evidence to link the individual to an active shooter or "any crime at all," Escalante said.
"I can't believe that our kids have to live through this and that this is the state of the world that we live in," Gabrielle Jones, the parent of a Santa Cruz High School student, told KCBS Radio. "I knew it was probably going to happen and it did. No one has gotten hurt today, everyone's okay, but it's terrifying."
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