Police respond to active shooting call at local high schools

Two local schools, as well as multiple others in the region, were targets of what law enforcement called "swatting" incidents on April Fools Day.

Greg Shull, spokesperson for Cleveland County Schools, said swatting is when someone calls in a threat - such as an active shooter on campus - that is false.

On Monday morning, calls were made to law enforcement claiming an active shooter was at both Crest High and Kings Mountain High schools. The call to Kings Mountain High was made around 9 a.m., and a second was made to Crest High at 11:28 a.m., according to Sheriff Alan Norman.

Kings Mountain Police held a press conference at 11 a.m.

During the conference, Chief Gerald Childress said there were similar incidents of swatting that happened at Apex and Lincoln County schools.

"This morning, about 9:01 a.m., we received a call about a potential shooter at the school," Childress said. "All our SROs were working the road because there they're out of school."

He said the call was made to the police administrative number, and there was a woman on the line who said there was a shooter at the school. He said there was the sound of gunshots in the background.

"It heightened our response," he said.

Childress said police still responded quickly and in force, taking around four minutes to get to Kings Mountain High. Cleveland County Sheriff's Office and North Carolina Highway Patrol were also called for assistance, and there were around 50 law enforcement officers on the scene.

He said when they accessed the school, they didn't find anyone on campus. There were no shell casings or any other sign that a shooting had taken place.

Childress said officers are trained in swatting incidents.

"We want to treat them as true calls," he said.

Childress said police are attempting to track down who made the calls and are doing their due diligence in finding the culprits and prosecuting them to the fullest extent of the law.

"Something of this magnitude is very, very wrong," Childress said. "It's a shame someone would take the opportunity to do this."

He said it caused community concern, drained resources and tied up officers.

Norman said a similar call was made regarding Crest High School around 11:30 a.m. He said the call was made to Shelby Police, and the police department transferred the call to the Sheriff's Office. Norman said officers responded immediately but found no evidence of a shooting.

The city of Kings Mountain posted about the incident on its Facebook page stating the city had several calls asking about what was going on.

"First, rest assured that everything is under control," the post said. "There was a call came in of a potential active shooter at the high school. There are no students at the school today but officers have made a sweep of the school to clear it, where they found nobody. There will be a secondary sweep to follow protocol."

This article originally appeared on The Shelby Star: Police respond to active shooting call at local high schools