FRESNO, CA (KMJ) – Clovis West High School and Fort Washington Elementary were under a Shelter in Place on Tuesday, after a call came in threatening the campus.
The Fresno Police Department said the call came in around 1:00pm on Tuesday.
Fresno Police responded along with Clovis Unified School Police.
Clovis Unified sent the following messages to parents:
Clovis West Families:
Clovis West High School is currently on a Shelter in Place with students inside classrooms while law enforcement responds to a suspicious phone call received by local law enforcement. While this call had hallmarks of similar, non-credible calls received by law enforcement in the past, we are working from an abundance of caution to follow all of our school safety procedures. Students returned to classrooms before the end of our fifth period lunch and teachers will continue with slightly modified instructional plans. We are coordinating with local law enforcement out of an abundance of caution to ensure that no credible threat exists to our campus, and once law enforcement has completed their work on our campus, we will release students to normal operations while keeping our community updated throughout. Thank you for your understanding as we work with our law enforcement partners to ensure our students’ safety.
Fort Washington Families:
Today at approximately 1:05 p.m. our school was placed on a Shelter in Place. This action was taken after our neighboring school, Clovis West High, was placed on a Shelter in Place as law enforcement responded to a suspicious phone call received by Fresno Police Department and reported to Clovis West Administration. We will remain in a Shelter in Place, where students continue with instruction but do not go outdoors, until our neighboring school receives an all clear. At Fort Washington, students had completed lunch and our fifth and sixth grade students returned from the playground to classrooms about 10 minutes earlier than scheduled. This action is taken out of caution and is NOT the result of a direct threat to our campus, but to allow law enforcement to freely access the neighborhood around our school.
After a ground and air search with drones, the “all clear” was given by police shortly afterwards.
Clovis Unified School District Communications Coordinator Patti Lippert sent out a MEDIA ADVISORY that the Shelter in Place at Clovis West & Fort Washington was cleared at 1:42 Tuesday afternoon.
Fresno Police say the call is another in a series of calls that began during the last school year that caused the Clovis Unified School District to disrupt normal activities.
The first in the series of hoax calls that sent Fresno Police to the Clovis West campus came into one of their substations on Friday, February 3rd, 2023 at 1:56p.m., from a male saying he was going to carry out a shooting.
The second call came in Monday, Feb. 6, 2023 at 9:42a.m.
A third call was received on Monday, Feb. 8, 2023 at 11:27a.m.
The fourth on Thursday, February 9, 2023 at 7:52 a.m. before classes has begun.
Fresno Police said the fifth call came in Tuesday, February 21, 2023 at 2:37p.m. echoing similar threats received previously.
At that point, the superintendent Dr. Eimear O’Brien called for a meeting to address the problem.
The Fresno Police Department believes the threats are “swatting” or prank calls to law enforcement.
Listen to the report by KMJ’s Liz Kern.
