In Pennsylvania, several schools were overrun by a large police presence as they investigated false reports of active shooters.
Authorities were called to Central Catholic and Oakland Catholic High Schools in Oakland around 10:18 a.m. Wednesday.
Fortunately, no injuries were reported and no active shooters were discovered at any of the sites.
Additionally, lockdowns at the University of Pittsburgh and Carnegie Mellon have been lifted.
Pittsburgh Public Schools announced a modified lockdown for the rest of the day, as a precaution.
Locking means that only pre-existing appointments or meetings will be recognized. State police said the threats were likely computer-generated calls, but they take every call seriously.
PSP stations Hollidaysburg and Rockview responded to active shooter threats at nearby schools that were communicated by phone from the Blair County and Bedford areas, according to state police tweets.
Standard law enforcement protocols are followed for every incident, even if the calls are presumed to be computer-generated muffled calls.
State Police tweeted that they are investigating a sequence of 911 phone calls regarding threats from an active shooter or a bombing situation at schools in Pennsylvania. Currently, all claims in these calls have been found to be false, but the investigation is ongoing.
An Allegheny County spokesperson said they received three different calls indicating the presence of an active shooter at three separate schools.
They are also aware that comparable reports come from schools outside the county. In each case, law enforcement responds but suspects the information is false. No active shooters have been identified and there have been no injuries at any school so far.
Law enforcement will continue to thoroughly investigate any reports.
The incident appears to have affected schools in various counties. According to reports, New Castle Police received a call from a man threatening to open fire at New Castle High School.
The school was quickly locked down and NCPD units arrived within minutes. After being cleared by law enforcement and New Castle area school district staff, the lockdown was lifted. Likewise, Hopewell High School in Beaver County and Laurel Highland High School in Fayette County received comparable calls.
The FBI Pittsburgh has been made aware of several runover incidents in which false reports of an active shooter at a school are made. The FBI takes these incidents seriously because they endanger innocent lives.
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