Updated Feb. 23 at 11:03 a.m.
Numerous Colorado schools lifted lockdown orders within hours after receiving threats Wednesday morning related to shootings and bombings.
Boulder High School went into lockdown after a caller said they were armed with a semiautomatic weapon and prepared to enter the school. Police departments and sheriff's offices responded to similar threats Wednesday at schools in Alamosa, Aspen, Brighton, Ca帽on City, Durango, Englewood, Estes Park, Gilpin County, Glenwood Springs and Littleton, among others.
A number of the fake call threats, called "swatting" calls, appeared to arrive in by school name. The Colorado Information Analysis Center told KDVR many of the calls came from the same .
In Boulder, the non-emergency dispatch center received the threatening call around 8:30 a.m. that suggested an active shooter was on the premises at Boulder High School.
鈥淚t is very scary. In the background, you could actually hear shots being fired,鈥� Boulder Police Chief Maris Herold said of the call. 鈥淭he way this call came in really was authentic to make you believe that we had a real active shooter in the front of the school.鈥�
Herold said the caller鈥檚 voice sounded like a male, though nothing about the caller鈥檚 identity or motive has been confirmed. The chief said officers do not yet know whether the threats to different Colorado schools Wednesday were part of a coordinated effort, but said the threats appeared to arrive within a close time frame.
鈥淚n my wildest imagination, I cannot imagine doing this,鈥� Herold said of the threatening call. 鈥淚t is very serious.鈥�
Police allegedly responded within minutes of the reported threat and advised the public to avoid the area around the high school and shelter in place.
Boulder High School has a regular later start time on Wednesdays, when the school is scheduled to open at 9:35 a.m. Given the scheduled late start, many students and staff were not yet on school grounds when police received news of the threat.
Randy Barber, chief communications officer for the Boulder Valley School District, said about 200 people were evacuated from the high school in buses. Evacuees were taken to Macky Auditorium on the University of Colorado鈥揃oulder campus, where parents were instructed to pick up their children.
The Estes Park Police Department also received an anonymous report of a planned shooting at the town鈥檚 high school Wednesday morning, although school was already canceled due to snow. In a tweet, the town referred to the report as a 鈥渉oax,鈥� saying that officers immediately searched local schools and found no evidence to substantiate the threat.
Hoax report of active shooter
— Town of Estes Park (@TownofEstesPark)
At approximately 9:23 a.m., the Estes Park Police Department received a report from an anonymous source that there would be an active shooter at the Estes Park High School, which is closed today due to weather.
In Brighton, police responded to a local high school after receiving a threat from an unidentified person, according to a tweet from the police department. By 10 a.m. Wednesday, Brighton police announced there was 鈥渘o credible threat鈥� to students or the community.
Brighton Police Officers have found NO credible threat to students or the surrounding community. The Secure at Brighton High School has been lifted.
— Brighton PD (@BrightonPolice)
This isn't the first time鈥攁nd Colorado isn't the only state鈥攚here false threats of a shooting have popped up. Last September, Denver , and went into lockdown, after receiving 'hoax' threats. have cropped up in Ohio, Virginia, Minnesota and Florida. Yesterday, similar false threats impacted .
In Boulder, Barber said the school district immediately instituted a lockdown and sent information out to parents and staff after hearing about the threat. Grief counselors will be on hand to help students work through the aftermath of the incident.
This community has suffered from shooting incidents in the recent past. On Monday, SWAT teams, firefighters and police swarmed a Boulder hotel after gunshots were reported inside. One man has been arrested. In 2021, ten people were killed in a mass shooting at a Boulder King Soopers.
鈥淚t's the worst fear that most parents, most students have,鈥� Barber said. 鈥淲e recognize that just even the news coverage of this, let alone being in the school when something like this happens, can be quite traumatic so there will be help, mental support for students.鈥�
By 11 a.m. Wednesday Boulder police lifted the shelter-in-place order, but asked that the public still avoid the area at the time of publication. Police say there are no confirmed injuries.
We are currently lifting the shelter in place order but we are still clearing the school. Thankfully we still have NO confirmed reports of any injuries. Please continue to avoid the area as you will see a continued police presence here for several hours
— Boulder Police Dept. (@boulderpolice)
The Denver branch of the Federal Investigations Bureau said in a statement that there has been nothing to indicate a 鈥渟pecific and credible threat鈥� among the threats issued Wednesday morning, but that the bureau will continue to partner with local law enforcement to gather information.
