Two Virginia Beach middle schools went into lockdown Friday after someone called in threats claiming they were on their way to kill students, according to the Virginia Beach Police Department. Salem Middle School and Corporate Landing Middle School both received the calls and locked down immediately, while officers fanned out across every middle school in the city as a precaution.
According to the WTKR, the Virginia Beach Police Department said both schools received phone calls from someone claiming they were heading to campus to kill students. Salem Middle School and Corporate Landing Middle School went into lockdown right after the calls came in, and police sent additional officers to both campuses in response.
Extra Officers Posted Districtwide Through Dismissal
Police also assigned officers to every middle school in Virginia Beach until dismissal, out of what the department described as an abundance of caution. Investigators said at the time that they believed the threats were hoaxes, though the department confirmed the investigation remained active.
Salem Middle School enrolled 1,072 students in grades 6 through 8 for the current school year and ranks in the top 20% of Virginia public middle schools for academic proficiency, according to SchoolDigger. Corporate Landing Middle School, located at 1597 Corporate Landing Parkway, serves nearly 1,000 students in the same grade range within Virginia Beach City Public Schools, per Niche.
A Pattern of Hoax Calls Targeting Schools
Friday's lockdowns echo a wider pattern that has rattled Virginia Beach schools before. In September 2024, Virginia Beach City Public Schools and city police investigated a wave of non-credible social media threats against local schools, warning families that perpetrators face felony prosecution and strict school discipline, as reported by 13News Now at the time.
The district has also dealt with threats originating from well outside Virginia Beach. Hoodline previously reported that a 19-year-old pleaded guilty to bombing threats against Loudoun and Arlington schools that also targeted Virginia Beach.
What the Law Says About Hoax Threats
Virginia law treats these kinds of calls as serious crimes. Under Virginia Code § 18.2-60, communicating an oral or written threat to kill or discharge a firearm on elementary, middle, or secondary school grounds is a Class 6 felony carrying up to five years in prison, according to the Virginia Law code.
Separately, Virginia's anti-swatting law, HB 1572, makes knowingly reporting a false emergency to dispatchers a Class 1 misdemeanor punishable by up to 12 months in jail, a $2,500 fine, and mandatory restitution for public safety costs, per WSLS. Virginia Code § 18.2-83 treats bomb threats by people under 18 as a Class 1 misdemeanor.
Security Measures Already in Place
Virginia Beach City Public Schools maintains a dedicated Office of Security & Emergency Management that oversees locked exterior doors, video buzzer entry systems, visitor vetting, and assigned School Resource Officers across its middle schools, according to the district's own safety materials. That infrastructure comes as all 81 campuses in the division achieved full state accreditation for the current academic year, with 77 schools raising their overall performance scores, Virginia Beach City Public Schools announced this month.
The lockdowns also arrive amid growing federal attention to swatting incidents nationwide. In September, the U.S. Department of Education and the Department of Justice issued joint guidance to schools on detecting and responding to swatting hoaxes and fake active shooter calls. Law enforcement agencies have also pointed to the FBI's centralized tracking database, created in 2023 to aggregate law enforcement reports and support federal conspiracy charges against phone hoaxers, according to a separate WSLS report.
It remains unclear whether investigators have traced the origin of the calls made to Salem and Corporate Landing Middle Schools or whether federal agencies will become involved, and the Virginia Beach Police Department has not said when the investigation might conclude.
