Cody High School “Swatted” – School Shooting Call Proves False

Park County School District #6 alerted parents on Monday, April 3, to share information on what turned out to be a frightening morning at Cody High School.

On Monday morning (April 3,) the Park County Law Enforcement Center received a call reporting a school shooting at Cody High School. After the call, the Cody Police Department mobilized and quickly responded.

Once officers arrived at Cody High School, they verified that there was no shooting and no threat to students.

Park County School District #6 reassures parents that there is no threat and Cody High School students are safe.

“We are thankful for our local law enforcement acting quickly to verify the situation,” Park #6 Superintendent Vernon Orndorff said in the district-wide message.

Hoax calls of active shooter situations are not unusual. In fact, the Cody High School call wasn’t the only one in the state on April 3.

Campbell County High School in Gillette was placed under lockdown after a similar call of a school shooting. Once law enforcement officials swept the school facilities and confirmed was no threat, the lockdown was lifted.

“Swatting” – incidents where law enforcement swarms a location where a crime is reportedly in progress when there are no threats – are a frequent and growing national trend. Swatting incidents are frustrating for law enforcement and have become dangerous – a Tennessee man died of a heart attack due to a swatting incident in April 2020.

The number of calls seems to be growing in frequency as the number of school shootings in the United States increases. An investigation by NPR found 182 schools in 28 states received false calls about threats between September 13 and October 21, 2022.

As of April 3, there have been 13 school shootings that resulted in injuries or deaths in 2023. There have been 157 school shootings since 2018.

So far, 129 mass shootings have occurred in the United States this year.