BPD finds ECHS shooting threat false

More than 50 Beaumont police officers and federal agents swarmed BISD’s Early College High School campus after hearing a false report about a gunman having shot more than 20 students Sept. 22. Officers found no one injured and no shooter at the school.

Beaumont Police Department (BPD) officers called “all clear” after receiving a call – from someone purporting to be a student – indicating a shooter had already entered the campus and opened fire. Armed officers investigated and said the claim was unfounded.

More than 20 Beaumont Police Department (BPD) vehicles were seen at the campus after reports emerged of an active shooter threatening the school at about 1:38 p.m. Thursday afternoon, with police reportedly responding within 60 seconds of the call. A BPD officer told The Examiner that approximately 50-100 law enforcement personnel responded to the situation and scoured the campus for a shooter – ultimately finding the threat to be false.

Another officer reported that BISD officers didn’t arrive until after BPD had cleared the campus just after 2 p.m. – nearly half-an-hour later. That’s when BPD officers emerged from the campus wielding rifles, with at least one holding a ballistic shield.

One video obtained by the publication depicting the ECHS lockdown shows armed BPD officers unbolting a classroom door before entering and asking to see students’ hands. No BISD police were seen in the video of police searching the campus, and none were seen on campus until after BPD offered the “all clear.”

Concerned parents who gathered outside the school say the campus is generally peaceful – which is why the threat was especially shocking to them. They speculated the person who made the threat likely wasn’t a student there.

BISD students told The Examiner high school campuses were on lockdown four separate times last week due to bomb and shooting threats aimed at the schools. The same day as the active shooter call at ECHS, bomb threats were reported at both of BISD’s other two high schools, Beaumont United and West Brook. ECHS students say some classmates were suspended for recording events during the Sept. 22 threat.

B. Scott McLendon is an Alabama-born, nationally award-winning staff writer at The Examiner in his fifth year as a reporter. Contact Scott with questions, comments and story ideas by calling (334) 482-2801, emailing scott@theexaminer.com or visiting The Examiner at 795 Willow Street in Downtown
Beaumont.