O'Fallon Township High School District 203 briefly locked down its Milburn freshman campus Thursday morning after a prank phone call triggered a swatting investigation, before officials ultimately confirmed there was no real threat. Students and staff were kept secured inside while officers checked the building, and classes picked back up once law enforcement cleared the scene.
According to RiverBender, the call came in shortly after the school day started at the Milburn campus and the O'Fallon Police Department was notified right away. All district campuses shifted into a soft lockdown while officers investigated. The district said the lockdown was lifted at 10:15 a.m. Thursday after police traced the source of the call and determined it was a swatting incident. District officials thanked students, staff and families for staying calm and cooperative while they worked through the scare.
What swatting is and why it matters
Swatting is the practice of making a bogus report to emergency services in order to provoke an armed police response, a hoax that law enforcement officials say can put people at risk and waste critical public-safety resources. Reporting on the FBI’s effort to create a national swatting database has tracked a rise in hoax calls targeting schools and other public places, according to CNBC. Other coverage has detailed how these incidents complicate investigations and strain agencies that already run lean, as noted by the Los Angeles Times.
Local campus details and next steps
Milburn is the district’s freshman campus at 650 Milburn School Road, according to the O'Fallon Township High School District website. District leaders said they will continue to work with the O'Fallon Police Department on any follow-up related to the incident and asked families to rely on official district messages for any further updates rather than rumors or social media chatter.
