Marblehead Schools On Alert Amid Area 'Swatting' Threat Hoax

MARBLEHEAD, MA — Superintendent John Buckey on Wednesday said in an email to families that the district is aware of the rash of "swatting" active shooter threats being made against several North Shore schools this week and has a protocol in place if such a call comes into Marblehead.

Buckey said that procedure includes placing the school in question in "lockdown" as a precaution until it can be confirmed that the threat is a hoax.

"Additional emergency personnel will be sent to the school to conduct a check of the building," Buckey said early Wednesday afternoon. "Once the threat is cleared as a hoax, the school lockdown will be lifted and normal operations will resume. At that time, a message will also be sent to the school community providing releasable information about the incident, clearing that the school is safe.

"Marblehead Schools and the Marblehead Police Department take the safety of our school community seriously."

Salem Public Schools on Wednesday was the latest in the district to be hit with one of the "swatting" calls. The high school and Horace Mann School were placed in brief lockdowns while police investigated the calls and cleared the buildings of being under any imminent threat.

"After all of the incident investigations, it has been preliminarily determined that the call is a hoax and there is no danger to the school community," Buckey said. "This week several schools have been targeted including Haverhill, Amesbury, Ipswich High Schools and Salem High School today.

"The caller in each incident appears to be the same person and reciting the same narrative."

The phrase "swatting" entered the dictionary in 2015 and has been recognized as a criminal phenomenon by the FBI since at least 2008.

(Scott Souza is a Patch field editor covering Beverly, Danvers, Marblehead, Peabody, Salem and Swampscott. He can be reached at Scott.Souza@Patch.com. Twitter: @Scott_Souza.)