KAUKAUNA — Kaukauna police were well aware of the wave of hoax school shooter calls that spread across the state and nation Thursday.
But thankfully, none of those calls were directed at any schools in the Kaukauna Area School District.
“We were aware of the calls, but there was nothing in our jurisdiction,” Assistant Kaukauna Police Chief Bradley Sanderfoot told Kaukauna Community News.
At least five schools in Northeast Wisconsin and many more in the southern part of the state were part of a nationwide series of “swatting” calls.
Authorities say none of the incidents turned out to be an actual threat.
At least one arrest has been made in Oshkosh, although it’s unclear if it was connected to any possible coordinated series of calls.
Oshkosh police said they made one arrest Thursday evening while investigating a post indicating a potential threat towards Oshkosh West High School.
That incident followed a call in the morning about a disturbance involving a weapon at South Park Middle School. The school resource officer and additional officers searched the building and did not find anything of concern.
At East High School in Green Bay, officers were called about 10 a.m. for a report of an active shooter inside the school and 15 students had been shot. However when police arrived they found no injuries and no evidence of a shooting.
In southeastern Wisconsin, five schools received similar “Swatting” calls, according to the Rock County Sheriff’s office.
The intent of these swatting calls is to elicit a response from emergency responders.
According to the sheriff’s office, the calls were reported to be computer generated and were very similar in nature. In some cases swatting calls are robotic indicating there is an active shooter in a school.
Among the schools was Janesville Craig High School, where authorities say they received a suspicious call about 11 a.m. reporting an active shooter with casualties.
The communications center staff recognized some inconsistencies with how this call was being reported that alerted them to it being a “swatting call.” The call was taken seriously and Officer Jauch, who is assigned to Craig High School, was able to immediately confirm the event was not occurring.
The FBI released a statement on the numerous hoax threats:
“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.”
