SWAT Team Sweeps Riverview High School After Shooting Threat: Sheriff

SARASOTA, FL — SWAT team members and other law enforcement officers swarmed Riverview High School in Sarasota Tuesday after the Sarasota County Sheriff’s Office received a call about an active shooter at the school, authorities said.

The call was made to an administrative non-emergency line at the agency’s Public Safety Communications Center, SCSO shared on Facebook. The person who made the call spoke with a foreign accent.

While the school was briefly in lockdown as the SWAT team searched the school room by room, “no threat has been found, no one was injured and the school has been cleared,” Sarasota police, who assisted with the call, shared on Facebook.

“We have NOT received a report of any gunfire and believe this to be a ‘swatting’ call, however we are treating this as an active shooter until proven otherwise,” the sheriff’s office wrote on Facebook.

Hoax “swatting” calls were made to schools across Florida and the United States on Tuesday, SCSO added.

In South Florida, multiple schools in Broward and Miami-Dade counties were on lockdown after reports of threats to campuses.

Authorities received a call — which was later found to be false — about an adult male shooter in body armor at Miami Central High School just after 9 a.m., according to WSVN.

Similar calls were made Tuesday morning about schools in Pembroke Pines, Boca Raton, Doral, Dillard, Hollywood and Pompano Beach, reports said.

Later Tuesday, calls were made about Palm Beach and Orange county schools, while schools in the Tampa Bay area were targeted Tuesday afternoon, Fox 13 reported.

In Pinellas County, Pinellas Park High School was on lock-in status following a hoax call. A similar call was made about the St. Petersburg Catholic campus, St. Petersburg Police Department shared on social media.

A spokesperson for the FBI told WFLA, “The FBI is aware of numerous swatting incidents wherein a report of an active shooter at a school is made. The FBI takes swatting very seriously because it puts innocent people at risk. While we have no information to indicate a specific and credible threat, we continue to work with our local, state, and federal law enforcement partners to gather, share, and act upon threat information as it comes to our attention. We urge the public to remain vigilant, and report any and all suspicious activity and/or individuals to law enforcement immediately.”