A caller threatening a school shooting at Dundee-Crown High School used sound effects with fake gunfire, leading to an hours-long lockdown at the school in what authorities now believe was a hoax, village officials said Wednesday.
The scene unfolded around 9 a.m. Wednesday at the Carpentersville high school, where district officials reported a phone call that was received by the school's front office "made a threat against our school."
"Upon receiving the phone call, the school contacted law enforcement and placed the school in lockdown," an alert from the school's website stated.
The village manager for Carpentersville, John O'Sullivan, said the village's police department also received a phone call, which included sound effects simulating fake gunfire at the time.
Chaos erupted in school's halls as students said they were rushed into classrooms for what they believed was an active shooter.
“I saw everybody started running in the hallway like crazy," said junior Michael Soto. "The teachers were like, 'Everybody get in a classroom.' It was terrifying."
District 300 Supt. Susan Harkin said in an initial notice that the lockdown was issued by administrators "as a precautionary measure" and "all students and staff are safe."
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A district spokesperson later said the incident did not involve an active shooter and students were under a late start Wednesday.
As word spread, crowds of students and parents gathered outside the school with the hours-long situation still unfolding.
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“My daughter starts crying, she’s like, 'I heard there was a shooting, somebody got shot,' and I’m like, 'Wait, wait, wait - we don’t know yet," said parent Josefa Gomez.
The lockdown was lifted just after 12 p.m., after SWAT officers went door-to-door releasing students from the building.
"Students and staff are safe and have been directed to return inside of the building," an update from the district stated. "For the remainder of the day, Dundee-Crown will remain open in a shelter in place. Students will remain in the field house, cafeteria, or gym during this time. Support services will be provided to any student who may need them."
Authorities said the investigation into the call deemed it unfounded.
“No shooter, no one was injured, no firearm," O'Sullivan said. "Actually, determined that it was a false alarm, prank call ... a lot of economic damage caused by this call.”
O'Sullivan noted the threat is not the only one for the area this week.
Other area schools like South Elgin received a fake bomb threat just days earlier.
"Report I got from the police chief was it’s believed these calls were filtered through some sort of app to mask the caller, so it’s very unlikely we’ll ever determine the identity of this caller," O'Sullivan said.
While the call may have been fake, the fear was real, witnesses said.
“If the same call came in tomorrow of course we would do the exact same thing. We have no choice," O'Sullivan said. "There’s no boy who cried wolf situation."
