COLERAIN TOWNSHIP, Ohio — Children can be heard laughing in the background of a 911 call that put Pleasant Run Elementary and Middle School on lockdown Wednesday, according to notes on an incident report.
Dozens of police officers responded to Pleasant Run Middle School Wednesday morning after the 911 call was made at 8:36 a.m. reporting a shooter at the school.
WCPO obtained the 911 call audio Thursday morning.
"Come to Pleasant Run Middle School," one of the children said on the call. "We're having a shooter shoot up our school."
You can listen to the call here:
The 911 operator struggled to understand what was being said with multiple voices of children and the laughter in the background.
According to police records, a number with a (911) area code called the police at least four times starting at 8:27 a.m. before making the false active shooter report at 8:36 a.m. There is no real 911 area code.
First responders got to the school within a few minutes of being dispatched and immediately started clearing both the middle school and elementary school, which are located on the same campus off Pippin Road in Pleasant Run near the Crown Hill Memorial Park and Mausoleum.
The all-clear was given and parents were allowed to reunite with their children around 10 a.m.
“When the first report comes in, you don't know that it's false,” said Darrell Yater, superintendent of Northwest Local School District. “It is a harrowing experience that I hope people don't have to go through.”
Police were able to track the number to a home on Houston Road about a mile south of the middle and elementary schools. No arrests have been made thus far related to the false call.
The elementary and middle schools were closed Thursday so staff could make necessary plans to help emotionally support students when they are scheduled to return Friday morning.
"Our top priority is the safety and well-being of our students and staff," Yater said. "Thank you for your cooperation and support as we work together as a school community to keep our schools safe. Always remind your children that if they see something, to say something."
Brandi Price was hundreds of miles away on a business trip when she received a text no parent can prepare for.
“It said ‘Mom, we're on lockdown,’” she said. “The teacher locked the door and now we're all huddled in a corner.”
Her son attends Pleasant Run Middle School.
“I’m feeling completely helpless,” she said. “What can I do at this point?”
The Colerain Police Department is still investigating the call's origin.
This is the second active shooter hoax in less than two months in the Tri-State. In late September, Princeton High School fell victim to a nationwide school shooting hoax.
In the past three months, there have been at least five threats made at various schools across the Tri-State including an incident at Turpin High where a student was charged after allegedly threatening to shoot students and blow up a bus.
“I'm a former law enforcement officer, and I can tell you when we get that kind of call, we’re coming lights and siren,” said Mo Canady, Executive Director of the National Association of School Resource Officers. “It increases the potential of injury to officers, to citizens who are out on the roadway.”
Since the start of the 2022 school year, there have been more than a dozen threats made against districts, schools, teachers or students across the Tri-State. Canady said fake threats can have a big impact.
“Not only does it pull important resources, away from areas of our own community, it pulls resources from other communities as well and leaves those areas vulnerable to criminal activity,” he said.
There’s an emotional toll too, which is part of the reason the district closed the schools Thursday.
“We needed to wrap resources around our staff in order to make sure that they could process the events of yesterday,” Yater said. “And to have the resources and tools so that they could engage our students tomorrow with the best version of themselves, but also with tools about how to have conversations about what happened with students.”
Additional counselors will be available Friday for students. The district also plans to distribute information to families that can help them have conversations about traumatic events.
“I hope that they bring them to justice, whether it's a kid or adult,” said Price. “They need to be brought to justice.”
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