New Braunfels police cleared out First Protestant School on Castell Avenue on Wednesday afternoon after a reported potential threat, sending students and staff outside while officers swept classrooms and common areas. Once the campus was checked and declared secure, students were reunited with their guardians, and patrol units stayed posted through pickup to keep an eye on dismissal.
The New Braunfels Police Department called the report potentially credible and said detectives with its Criminal Investigations Division are leading the case, according to KENS5. No injuries were reported, and officers carried out a full campus sweep as a precaution. The department also pushed updates to its social channels, telling families that officers would remain on site to help with dismissal.
First Protestant School is listed at 205 South Castell Avenue and serves children from daycare through fifth grade. The school's public information page notes its operating hours and highlights a parent engagement app used for family communications, according to the First Protestant School website.
Police response and investigation
NBPD said its Criminal Investigations Division is working to track down the source of the report and will follow leads as they come in. In past media releases, the department has repeatedly stressed that “NBPD takes all threats very seriously, particularly those that involve schools,” a stance that was clearly on display in how officers handled this call. For the department's broader statement on school safety and contact details, see the City of New Braunfels media release.
Local context
Phoned-in threats and spoofed calls have triggered aggressive police responses across the area this year. In January, a spoofed call sent Canyon Middle School into lockdown and later turned out to originate from another city. That incident, which led to a full campus sweep but no injuries, helps explain why New Braunfels police moved so quickly this week. Local coverage of the earlier lockdown is available in this report on the spoof threat call.
Anyone with information about Wednesday's report is asked to contact NBPD's Criminal Investigations Division at (830) 221-4100 or the department's non-emergency line at (830) 221-4000, according to the City of New Braunfels. This story will be updated as officials release more details.
