Dispatch confirms no threat at Wichita North High after false shooting call, FBI investigating

WICHITA, Kan. (KSNW) — A heavy police presence surrounded Wichita North High School on Thursday after a caller told police there was an active shooter at the school.

The call was made around 2 p.m. Wichita police responded quickly and found no threats, and Sedgwick County Dispatch has confirmed there was no threat.

The school was not placed on lockdown.

Terri Moses, the director of safety services at Wichita Public Schools, held a news conference at 3:15 p.m. Watch below:

According to Moses, after dispatch received the false call, North High activated its incident command system.

“That means when we have a police incident, the police department is in charge. When they arrive at our building, in this case, the [school resource] officer was already at our building. He made the decision to go directly to that school – or to that classroom and check that incident. He determined that there was nothing there and at that point made the decision there was no reason to go on lockdown because there was nothing that occurred,” said Moses.

Moses says the school resource officer made it to the classroom “in almost a minute.” It is believed that they knew what classroom was in question based on the dispatch call. After that, it was just a matter of checking the rest of the school to ensure there was no activity elsewhere.

Parents were notified of the situation through the school’s parent link system.

The FBI said in a news release it is aware of multiple incidents and is investigating:

“The FBI is aware of the numerous swatting incidents wherein a report of an active shooter at a school is made. The FBI takes swatting very seriously because it puts innocent people at risk. While we have no information to indicate a specific and credible threat, we will continue to work with our local, state, and federal law enforcement partners to gather, share, and act upon threat information as it comes to our attention. We urge the public to remain vigilant, and report any and all suspicious activity and/or individuals to law enforcement immediately.”

The Kansas City Division has been made aware of threats of this nature to several area schools in both Missouri and Kansas. 

Hayden Catholic High School in Topeka, North Kansas City High School, and Turner High School in Kansas City all had incidents this afternoon, which also turned out to be false.

KSN will update this story with more information as it becomes available.