The Boulder Police Department did not find any threats or injuries at Boulder High School after an unfounded active shooter call was made to police Wednesday morning.
A person called a non-emergency number for the University of Colorado Police Department Wednesday at 8:33 a.m. saying they were at Boulder High School with semi-automatic weapons and were prepared to go in the school, Boulder Police Chief Maris Herold said in a press conference. After the caller said that, “very realistic gun sounds” could be heard in the background of the call.
“Obviously, this is the scariest kind of call,” Herold said. “Especially when you look across the country, you see how many of these shootings are occurring.”
Herold said she is not prepared to identify the call as a “hoax” or “swatting” incident, though numerous other similar reports came in from school districts across the state in the same day, but there is no evidence the caller was ever at Boulder High School.
Police arrived at the school within three minutes and began securing the building, and the high school was locked down while police searched the building. Classes had not yet started because it was on a late-start schedule, but Herold said she thought about 200 students were there.
There were also possible bombs at the school, Herold said.
A portion of the University of Colorado and the area around the school was also put on shelter-in-place status.
Police searched the entire building and found no injuries or threats, and everyone who was at the school was evacuated safely, Herold said.
Multiple other Colorado schools have received various threats today, according to law enforcement, spurring lockdowns and shelter-in-place warnings. All the other reports were also unfounded, and no one reported any injuries.
Herold said the FBI is at the Boulder scene working to gather information on the calls across the state.
We are still clearing the school but right now we have NOT found any victims. Please continue to shelter in place
— Boulder Police Dept. (@boulderpolice) February 22, 2023
Boulder Valley School District canceled school at Boulder High for the rest of the day, as well as after-school activities. Students who were at the school are being taken to Macky Auditorium on the University of Colorado campus. Families can pick up their students there starting at 11 a.m.
🟢UPDATE: Boulder High School EVACUATION/ REUNIFICATION
PLEASE DO NOT COME TO BOULDER HIGH SCHOOL.
The Boulder Valley School District has implemented an evacuation of Boulder High School following today’s LOCKDOWN.— Boulder Valley School District (@BVSDcolorado) February 22, 2023
Denver Post reporter Jessica Seaman contributed to this report.
