Las Vegas Sun

May 3, 2024

Police: Fake 911 call prompts active-shooter response at Boulder City High

Boulder City

Leila Navidi

The front entrance of the police station in Boulder City on Friday, Nov. 13, 2009.

Police strike teams swarmed Boulder City High School today after a person claiming to be a teacher falsely reported they were hiding from a gunman in the building, authorities said.

Boulder City Police dispatchers received the “spoofed” call at 9:09 a.m., and a school resource officer immediately initiated an “active-shooter response,” police said.

“In less than 90-seconds, strike teams consisting of multiple officers were deployed inside the school,” Police Chief Tim Shea said in a statement. “Our teams advanced throughout the building and found no evidence of any threat.”

Police said they later learned a neighboring school outside of Boulder City had received a similar call about the same time. That school was not identified.

The lockdown lasted less than 45 minutes, and officers have cleared the scene, police said.

Such “spoofing/swatting incidents” have been reported in school districts nationwide, police said. Spoofing technology allows a person to disguise their actual phone number from caller IDs.

“These threats are a crime and will be investigated and prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law,” Shea said.