Seymour Public Schools Facebook
A letter shared by Seymour Superintendent of Schools Susan Compton on the afternoon of Oct. 30. All schools are safe following fake reports to police.
VALLEY – Hoax calls to police caused school lockdowns in towns throughout the Valley and beyond on Wednesday (Oct. 30).
High schools in Derby, Ansonia, Seymour, and Oxford each went into lockdown after police were called in each town, according to communications from police and school officials.
Given the large number of schools threatened, the FBI has joined the investigation.
There is no threat to any affected school districts.
A Google news search shows Pomperaug High School in Southbury was also affected, and police in Trumbull reported a similar call at St. Joseph High School.
“Multiple school systems have received similar threats today in Connecticut,” Ansonia police said on social media.
In Ansonia, a call falsely reported that there was a person with a gun on school grounds, according to police. Police investigated and found no threat.
“Swatting” is the practice of making false reports to police in order to dispatch a large amount of officers to a location. Nationwide, swatting incidents at schools have increased by more than six times annually since 2018, according to the Educators’ School Safety Network.
A separate spate of fake threats caused schools to close throughout the state in mid-September. A 13-year-old girl was arrested in Ansonia on suspicion of making a fake threat, and there was at least one other arrest in Bridgeport. Click here for a story.
The false threats came in at different points throughout the day. Seymour High School went into lockdown during the morning, while Derby High School entered its own brief lockdown around 1:45 p.m.
