LINCOLN – The Nebraska State Patrol (NSP) and Governor Jim Pillen held a press conference Thursday afternoon addressing the school shooting hoax calls that tore through the state earlier in the day.
Ten schools were disrupted by the calls, according to Nebraska State Patrol head John Bolduc, which included those in Kearney, Grand Island, and Hastings.
The hoax calls, known as “swatting” incidents, are engineered to disrupt not only stable learning environments but the routines of law enforcement as well.
Bolduc said that a number of different responses were elicited from law enforcement and schools, including lockdowns, but all held the safety of students as their number one priority.
“Fortunately, our schools and law enforcement agencies responded appropriately. There was a disruption in learning today, but the good news is our kids are safe, learning has resumed, and we will gather as much information as we can to conduct an investigation, and hold those people accountable.”
Bolduc also highlighted that the repercussions of such criminal activity extend far beyond typical, legal consequences.
“Think about if your child was in that school, and it was on lockdown, and there were law enforcement officers responding. We have texts being sent to parents, ‘I’m afraid.’ We have teachers locking and barricading doors. These are the appropriate responses, but the trauma that has resulted from this criminal activity is almost incomprehensible.”
Governor Pillen praised the involved law enforcement agencies for their responses and ongoing work in the investigation as well as school staff and administrators and said that at best, the hoax could prove as a priceless learning experience for the entire state.
“As great as Nebraska is, it’s important to recognize that these things can happen here. And so hopefully what comes of today is that we can make our schools safer tomorrow than they were today for all our kids.”
According to NSP’s Nebraska Information Analysis Center (NIAC), the hoax was on law enforcement’s radar, as nearby states Colorado and Idaho had seen near-identical swatting activity in the week prior and Kansas earlier this week. Part of the response was sharing that information, as well as response plans, with schools around the state.
Bolduc said the calls could possibly be connected as similarities such as voice-masking, mispronunciation of schools or towns, mocking a foreign accent, or the caller’s pretending to be hidden within the school.
Since the incident, there have been no actual shootings reported in the state.
