No shooting at Clovis West High, Fresno police say after threat caused campus lockdown
Fresno Police released students at Clovis West High following a lockdown that lasted about two hours Friday afternoon due to a potential threat to the campus.
Felipe Uribe, a public information officer for the Fresno Police, said the department received a call around 1:45 p.m. from a person who stated they were en route to Clovis West to shoot up the high school.
Upon response from several police units and a lengthy sweep of the school, Fresno Police later determined the threat was bogus and said no shooting had occurred.
“Everything was unfounded,” Uribe said. “As of right now, none of (the threats) has been substantiated.”
Uribe said Fresno Police had an officer arrive at the popular northeast Fresno school within three minutes of the threatening phone call being placed.
“Matter of fact, when the officer arrived, the caller was still on the call with the dispatcher,” Uribe said. “Grateful to say, the officer did not see anything, no evidence of a shooting, no chaos when he arrived.”
As more police units arrived, Fresno Police began blocking off the campus and locked down the school around 2:15 p.m. for safety purposes.
“Contact teams” and “reactive teams” then went in and conducted a “thorough sweep of the school,” Uribe added.
“After a long check of the school, it was determined that nothing happened, no one was hurt, no one was found,” Uribe said. “No one was matching a description that was given by the subject.”
By 3:22 p.m, Clovis Unified provided an update that detailed how student release would be conducted.
Students who ride the bus will be escorted to a Clovis Unified bus for school to home transportation. Buses will be delayed after the typical end of school by approximately 30-60 minutes to allow for the supervised release of students onto buses.
Students who use personal vehicles for school to home transportation will be held on campus until bus riders have been loaded. They will then be released in phases under officer supervision.
Parents can pick up their student now from a release point located at the south side of our Teague Ave. tennis courts. Students will remain under the supervision of staff and officers during this release.
Students who walk home will remain on campus until officers give us the approval to release them into the neighborhood.
The school district previously emailed parents at 2:23 p.m., stating officers were “investigating a threat to the safety of our campus.”
The message said that the school was secure.
“The lockdown procedures allow us to protect student safety until such time as police complete their investigation” the message said. “We will keep parents informed as we work collaboratively with law enforcement to complete their investigation.”
Fresno Police in an update to media at 2:40 p.m. said no shooting had occurred.
‘Crank/spoof call’
Fresno Police Lt. Bill Dooley said the incident began after a 911 call from a male who said “he was heading to the school to commit a shooting.”
“Although this appears to be a crank/spoof call at this time,” Dooley said, “we are handling this event through our normal protocols.”
Officers worked with school staff to make sure the campus was safe.
“If nothing else, we gained some training from this,” Uribe added.
Police launched a investigation into the caller, though the department expressed some challenges in trying to figure out where the call came from and who it was made by.
“Unfortunately, these types of calls often come from phone numbers not traceable,” Uribe said. “We definitely want to put this information out to the public to talk to your kids, and everyone else about making false calls of a shooting.
“These things cause chaos (and) ties up resources.”
One Clovis West parent who arrived at the school told The Bee that their daughter called to say they were on lockdown and she was scared. A grandparent of a student said the students were told to get under desks.
Elementary school locked down, also
Fort Washington Elementary School, across the street from the high school campus, was also locked down. Around 3 p.m., school officials said Fort Washington students would be released to a parent or guardian.
“At this time, if your student walks home they will not be released without supervision of a parent/guardian,” the district said in an email to parents.
Parents picking children up from school should come to the front office for pickup,” the district said. “Traffic exiting our campus will be directed to do so by driving south on Millbrook.”
The district said no after-school athletics would be held Friday.
“Special Education buses will be operating as scheduled, and Campus Club is also continuing on shelter in place.”
