Press Release from Enid Police Department:
At 10:30 a.m. Thursday, Dec. 8, Enid Police Department received a call on a non-emergency line from a male reporting an active shooter inside of Enid High School.
Enid High School was placed on lockdown while EPD Officers and Campus Police, Oklahoma Highway Patrol troopers and members of the Garfield County Sheriff’s Office methodically searched the entire campus. Officers determined the call was a hoax, no shooting had occurred, and no students or staff had been harmed. A full and methodical search of the entire campus was necessary to ensure no threat was present.
Similar reports of school shootings were made at other school districts throughout the state around this time. Investigators believe the false report received on the non-emergency line regarding Enid High was a part of this larger statewide hoax. The origins of this call are unknown and remain under investigation.
While this incident was unfolding, a student from within the EHS campus called 911 and reported an active shooter. Officers located and arrested this student a short time later after the student admitted to making the 911 call. The student said he made the call as a prank. Investigators believe the student made the call spontaneously during the police response and not in coordination with the original non-emergency line caller.
The student was arrested on complaints of misuse of the 911 system, terrorism hoax and false reporting of a crime.
During this same time, an image began circulating on social media of a juvenile holding a rifle with a threatening caption about Enid High School. Officers contacted the juvenile portrayed in the photo at a residence in Enid. They determined the original image had been shared by that juvenile months ago and, at that time, it did not have the threatening caption. Today during the incident, another student modified the image, added threatening language about EHS and shared the image.
Investigators do not believe the juvenile portrayed in the image poses any threat toward Enid High School or has committed any crime. Investigators have contacted the other juvenile that altered and shared the image and are determining if a criminal act occurred.
