OXFORD (WWJ) — Students at Oxford High School were dismissed early Thursday afternoon after the school was placed on lockdown due to an apparent "swatting call" that police say has been traced to Europe.
An unknown caller reported the threat about 11:45 a.m. Thursday, claiming there was a person in a bathroom with an AK-47-type automatic rifle and a pipe bomb and was threatening to shoot everyone and detonate the bomb, the Oakland County Sheriff's Office said in a press release.
The school was placed on lockdown "out of an abundance of caution," but police searched the building to make sure it was safe.
“Every threat will be fully investigated and we will always seek to hold the responsible accountable. We have even worked with partners in Europe to prosecute people in the past," Bouchard said.
Swatting is “the deliberate and malicious act of reporting a false crime or emergency to evoke an aggressive response (often a SWAT team) from a law enforcement agency to a target's residence or place of work to harass and intimidate them,” according to the Anti-Defamation League.
While many students were sent home on buses, parents were eventually allowed to pick their children up from the school.
The lockdown at Oxford comes about a month shy of the three-year anniversary of the deadly Nov. 30, 2021 mass shooting at Oxford High. Four students were shot at and killed, while six students and a teacher were injured by a then 15-year-old student.
Earlier this month students at Bloomfield Hills High School were told to shelter in place due to a swatting call.
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