No credible threat found after report of students being held hostage at Chaparral High School: Scottsdale PD
SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. - Scottsdale Police have released a statement that details a security incident involving Chaparral High School earlier on Wednesday.
In a statement, police said they received a call at around 9:15 a.m. alleging that students were being held hostage at Chaparral High.
"The school was immediately placed into lockdown," read a portion of the statement. "Numerous officers responded to campus and began searching for the potential threat."
Police said a search inside and outside the school confirmed there was no credible threat.
"The phone call that was received by Scottsdale Police was a hoax, and not credible. The phone call was from a VoIP phone, and when it was transferred over, the location was reported to be inside the school," police wrote. "The same phone number was transferred to three different schools throughout the United States."
During the incident, some parents were seen outside the school.
"As a parent, you feel helpless because I want to go in there and save the day, but obviously I can't, and you can see there was a lot of other parents here with the same feeling, concern, just kinda hoping for the best and wanting to see what the outcome was," said Barry Bales.
‘It actually did cause roadway congestion’
The topic of what to do when there's a school threat at your child's school was top of mind for parents, some pointed out why it's not ideal to go to the school while on lockdown.
FOX 10 asked the Scottsdale Police Department how they would ideally want parents to react, given the heightened emotions.
"We understand that these situations are a huge concern for the parents of those students, the students themselves, faculty there and the community it's around," Scottsdale Police Officer Aaron Bolin said.
Several parents rushed to Chaparral High School when they heard the school was in lockdown.
"I came down here to just try to figure out what was going on," said Barry Bales who has a child at the school.
Officer Bolin says when there is a school emergency and parents respond before the all clear, it could cause unintentional issues for first responders.
"We had so many family members arriving to try to get their students out of the school before any reunification plans were set or anything was ready to go," Officer Bolin said. "It actually did cause roadway congestion."
Scottsdale PD says all communication is on its X account to keep parents well-informed about the latest updates.
"It's so hard to know what the right thing to do might be. I think, for most of us who are parents, you want to get to your child, you want to get them and go save them and rescue them," Officer Bolin said.
That's the exact feeling parent Bales had when the news came down.
"As a parent, you feel helpless because I want to go in there and save the day, but obviously I can't. I see there are a lot of other parents here with the same feeling and concern," Bales said.
Bolin says it's best to wait for the all clear before coming to the school, especially because coming beforehand can be a distraction when the focus needs to be on getting all students, teachers and staff to safety.
Multiple school threat incidents in the Phoenix area reported recently
In recent weeks, a number of schools in Arizona have dealt with school safety threats.
On Sept. 12, Buckeye Police announced the arrest of a 13-year-old girl and a 17-year-old boy in connection with separate threats involving Bales Elementary School and Buckeye Union High School.
On Sept. 19, Mesa Police said 17 threats of violence were made within Mesa Public Schools. Six juveniles were reported to police, and officials said charges were filed against them.
On Sept. 20, a juvenile in the Prescott Valley area was arrested for their alleged role in a threat incident that involved Liberty Traditional School.
On Sept. 22, a girl in Buckeye was arrested in connection with a school threat that involved a school in Wisconsin.
On Sept. 24, we reported that police in Buckeye and Surprise made arrests in connection with two separate school threat incidents.
We spoke with two high school students about school threats on Sept. 13, and they talked about the impact such incidents have on them.
"It’s overwhelming," said senior Miranda. "We don’t need this."
"I feel like at the end of the day, I'm always kind of thinking about it," said sophomore Eliana Conde-Guerrero. "I'm always kind of scared of the possibility, and the idea never really goes away.