Police investigating active shooter hoax at Bolton High School

ALEXANDRIA, La. (KALB) - The Alexandria Police Department is investigating a phone call on Friday, Sept. 16, that said there was an active shooter at Bolton High School and that several people had already been shot.

Upon arriving at Bolton, authorities were informed by school officials that the call was inaccurate and there was no shooter. Following protocol, law enforcement officials swept and cleared the school, despite being told the call was inaccurate.

Lieutenant Lane Windham explained the Alexandria Police Department’s response.

“We do a walk through the entire school to make sure there is nothing going on there,” he said. “Anytime we have something like that in addition to contacting the school officials, we will also put some of the surrounding agencies on standby just in case something happens they can come in and help us.”

After learning the call was a hoax, officials also discovered that several other law enforcement agencies around the country received similar calls on Friday, including Shreveport and as far away as California. Investigators learned that the calls originated from a country in Africa.

Lt. Windham believes there is an explanation for those false claims.

“Terrorism,” said Lt. Windham. “The country the call came in from has a terrorist watch on that. Anybody that flies in or flies out, they’re flagged. It’s known for being one of the harbors of terrorists that we are looking for throughout the world. I think that they do that upon occasion to try to stir the American people up to try to get panic and see what happens.”

The investigation is now in the hands of the FBI, which continues to track down the source of the calls.

Click here to report a typo. Please provide the title of the article in your email.

Copyright 2022 KALB. All rights reserved.