'Swatter' Targets Claremont McKenna With School Shooter Call: Police

CLAREMONT, CA — A lockdown and massive police presence Thursday at Claremont McKenna College was the result of a “swatting call,” the second such incident to cause distress and disruption in Southern California in as many days, according to authorities.

“Extensive resources were used in response to the call for service, which was later determined to be a false report or ‘swatting call,’" police said in a news release Thursday evening.

Claremont police received a call around 4:45 p.m. from a person who said they were in a bathroom on the campus, holding a person captive and threatening to hurt them, authorities said. The caller told emergency responders that they had a bomb and would walk around campus with a rifle shooting anyone they saw, according to police.

Claremont police, along with personnel from La Verne, Ontario and Upland agencies, responded, authorities said. Extensive searches yielded no victims or shooter, according to police.

A lockdown on campus was lifted shortly after 7:30 p.m.

KTLA aerial footage captured a SWAT vehicle and several police cruisers on campus and SWAT officers escorting out a line of students with their hands on their heads and later searching them.

Anyone with information about the incident is asked to contact police at 909-399-5411.

The campus scare came a day after a high-profile Southland swatting incident targeting Loma Linda University Children's Hospital in San Bernardino County.

Hundreds of officers swarmed the hospital in response to a report of an active shooter Wednesday night, and the hospital was placed on lockdown. An "all-clear" was ultimately given nearly two hours later, with police blaming the incident on a "swatting call.”

The incident forced terrified staff and patients to hunker down in offices, and bathrooms, and one woman gave birth as SWAT officers roamed the halls, searching for the threat.

READ MORE: 'Swatting' Call At Loma Linda Hospital Prompts Massive Police Response