Students and staff at Santa Monica High School were ordered to shelter in place on Tuesday after a flurry of anonymous calls to police warned of a possible shooting on campus. The scare temporarily froze activity on the Pico Boulevard campus while officers and school staff locked down classrooms, secured buildings, and coordinated with investigators. Within the hour, administrators shifted the school back to normal operations, with an extra contingent of law enforcement sticking around for good measure.
According to NBC Los Angeles, the first call to the Santa Monica Police Department came in around 11:10 a.m. That was enough to trigger an immediate lockdown while officers worked to trace multiple incoming calls tied to the threat. Police later determined the warnings were unfounded and lifted the shelter-in-place order at about 11:54 a.m. No injuries were reported.
Both the Santa Monica Police and the Santa Monica-Malibu Unified School District emphasized that "threats involving schools are taken seriously, and individuals responsible for making false or threatening reports will be held accountable," the agencies told NBC Los Angeles. Detectives are now working to identify whoever was behind the calls.
Past Hoaxes, Safety Drills, and District Protocols
Santa Monica High is no stranger to false alarms. In 2022, a phone-in bomb threat led to an extensive sweep of the campus and a lengthy shelter-in-place order, according to the Santa Monica Daily Press. In situations like these, the district coordinates campus sweeps alongside police and pushes alerts to parents while officers move room by room.
What Parents Should Know
District officials said students remained safe throughout Tuesday's scare and that classes continued once the all-clear was given. Officers kept a visible presence on and around campus while investigators chased down leads. Anyone who may have information about the threatening calls is urged to contact the Santa Monica Police Department so detectives can follow up.
