Fake active shooter claims made to West Tennessee schools

JACKSON, Tenn. — Multiple schools across the state, including West Tennessee, were threatened with active shooter claims, which have since been determined to be hoaxes.

The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation is currently working with state and federal partners to determine the source of several hoax calls placed Wednesday to local law enforcement agencies, reporting an active shooter at several high schools.

The Jackson Police Department received a call through central dispatch Wednesday morning with claims to have witnessed an active shooter with a firearm.

“Officers with the Jackson Police Department, the fire department responded to this location within a relatively short period of time, — roughly two minutes is what I’m estimating — to determine if this was actually an active incident,”

In the call to dispatchers, there were also claims of multiple students being hurt at North Side High School.

“Officers with the Jackson Police Department, Madison County Sheriff’s Department, the SROs got together and we did a clearing operation to verify that we did not have any students that were victims. But at this current time, we have determined that this was not an active shooting incident and that the investigation into the origination of this call is still ongoing,”

Other schools that were threatened with the hoax include Dyersburg High School in Dyer County, and Westview High School in Weakley County.

The Dyersburg and Martin Police Departments confirmed no shooting occurred.

At this time, none of these reports have been proven credible and there is no known immediate threat to the public safety.

Meanwhile, multiple law enforcement agencies are investigating the incidents.

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