'Swatting' LFHS: Hoax Callers Report Bomb, Violence At High School

LAKE FOREST, IL — Police said they believe Lake Forest High School was targeted in a "swatting" incident Wednesday.

Shortly before 10:45 a.m., dispatchers got a call claiming that someone had planted a bomb inside Lake Forest High School. They notified the Lake Forest Police Department's officer assigned to the school and more officers from the department headed over to the school, according to a news release.

While police and school administrators were searching the campus, dispatchers got two separate telephone calls from out-of-state numbers that falsely asserted that there was active violence taking place at the school.

Police said they "immediately determined" that information was false. However, LFHS and other area schools were placed on "limited lockdowns out of an abundance of caution," police said.

The lockdowns were lifted following consultation with Lake Forest school district officials, according to police.

So-called "swatting" incidents — a reference to triggering a SWAT team in response to a bogus emergency call — have become increasingly common, police said.

Several North Shore public library systems and an elementary school in Highland Park have been targeted with false threats of active shooters and bombs in recent weeks.

According to police, the telephone numbers used to call in the threats to the Lake Forest police dispatch center are associated with other hoaxes throughout the state.

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