FRESNO, CA (KMJ) – Another lockdown takes place at Clovis West High School on Tuesday, with an “all clear” given by police shortly afterwards.
The call is another in a series of calls in February that have caused the Clovis Unified School District to bring in police to search the campus and disrupt normal activities.
Fresno Police said the fifth call came in Tuesday, February 21st, at 2:37p.m. echoing similar threats received previously.
The Fresno Police Department received the first call at one of their substations on Friday, February 3rd, at 1:56p.m., from a male saying he was going to carry out a shooting.
The second call came in Monday, Feb. 6th, at 9:42a.m.
A third call was received on Monday, Feb. 8th, at 11:27a.m.
The fourth on Thursday, February 9th, at 7:52 a.m. before classes has begun.
At that point, the superintendent Dr. Eimear O’Brien called for a meeting to address the problem.
So far, the Fresno Police Department believes the threats are “swatting” or prank calls to law enforcement, but they say there’s nothing funny about them.
Immediate Release: This afternoon, at approximately 2:35 p.m. Clovis West High School was briefly placed on lockdown after being notified by Fresno Police Department that another call had been received, similar to those received by local law enforcement earlier this month. An immediate, coordinated response with local law enforcement that included an aerial and ground search of the campus confirmed that the school was clear to end the lockdown and continue with regular operations. We are grateful to our local, state and federal law enforcement partners who support our campuses every day.
As a precautionary measure, Fort Washington Elementary was briefly placed in a lockdown that was lifted in less than 10 minutes to allow the law enforcement action across the street. Normal operations were quickly resumed following the all clear from our safety partners, and school released on time.
-Kelly Avants, APR, Chief Communications Officer, Clovis Unified School District
