HALTOM CITY, Texas — Haltom Middle School students are being reunited with their parents after a false threat triggered a lockdown and heavy police presence Wednesday afternoon, Birdville ISD officials said.
Around lunchtime, Birdville ISD says there was report of a possible person entering a back door of the school with a weapon. The building was immediately placed on lockdown and the Haltom City Police Department was notified.
When Haltom City police arrived on scene, they did a sweep of the entire building and found no threat or weapons. Police said it is believed to be a false call, and they lifted the lockdown.
WFAA flew over the scene as hundreds of staff and students were being evacuated.
Birdville ISD says all students and staff were accounted for and no injuries were reported. The district says school was set to resume as normal, and students would be released at the normal time. But parents were given the option of picking up their children early.
This is one of several threats over the past few months across North Texas.
In December 2021, at least 14 students had been arrested in connection to making false threats.
Several law enforcement agencies have been urging parents to check their kids’ social media accounts and have been warning of consequences if students create false or “hoax threats,” which can often carry felony charges.
FBI Dallas has also been assisting many local law enforcement agencies in these cases.
"Issuing a threat — even over social media, via text message, or through e-mail — is a federal crime," the FBI said, warning that those who post or send threats can receive up to five years in federal prison or face state or local charges, including threatening interstate communications.
The FBI says that threats of violence against school board members, officials, and workers in our nation’s public schools can be reported by the public to the FBI’s National Threat Operations Center (NTOC) via its national tip line (1-800-CALL-FBI) and online through the FBI website (http://fbi.gov/tips).