Multiple Schools In Philly Region Locked Down After Swatting Calls: Latest Details

PHILADELPHIA — School districts throughout the region placed schools on lockdown Monday morning after receiving phone calls with security threats.

Several school districts reported that they received "swatting" calls, bogus emergency calls that are meant to draw a major law-enforcement response to a targeted location.

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Police said the same call has impacted several school districts in the area, including Bucks, Montgomery, Chester, Berks, and Delaware counties, as well as Philadelphia.

The calls came just as most school districts were starting their days, forcing school officials to scramble to change bus routes and keep all students in classrooms with no one entering or existing schools.

Some reports indicate that swatting calls happened across the nation. Many districts implemented lockdowns in the interest of safety, police said.

By late morning, school districts had lifted the lockdowns after police department cleared the schools of threats.

School officials in the Pennsbury School District reported a call from California in which a threat was made that someone was "on their way to Pennsbury East High School with an assault rifle and a pipe bomb."

Police investigated the threat and found it to be unfounded.

Meanwhile, a threat was also made at Council Rock High School North on Monday morning.

The lockdown was later lifted, and the Newtown Township Police Department was investigating the incident.

The Central Bucks School District issued a statement amid the regional threats, which the district also received.

The Hatboro-Horsham School District was among the Montgomery County school districts that received the threats.

School officials put Hatboro-Horsham High School on lockdown and Simmons Elementary School on lockdown before the threat was deemed not to be credible.

In Chester County, a "swatting" call placed Conestoga High School on lockdown Monday morning, officials said.

Tredyffrin Police announced the school was in lockdown after a "potential swatting call" shortly after 8 a.m. on Monday, minutes into the school day.

Please see Patch for further details and information when they become available