ORANGE PARK, Fla. — Some Clay County parents and students were shaken up Tuesday morning after a threatening phone call was made against Oakleaf High School. The threat was determined to be part of a statewide 'swatting' call, but it still caused a large law enforcement presence.
Christopher Foy is a senior at Oakleaf High School. He said they got word of a possible threat during second period.
"I felt a little nervous. I texted my parents to make sure everything was ok and then they got a call from the district saying that there has been a threat. So I just got real nervous and made sure I checked on all my friends," Foy said.
Dozens of law enforcement officers arrived on scene to search the school and investigate the threat. The lockdown was lifted and the school was given the all clear more than an hour later. Irm Aslam joined many parents who did not want to take any chances and picked up their kids early.
"I was feeling very scared, so I kept on messaging him to make sure he was ok. It just didn’t feel right to leave him at school so I just went ahead and picked him up," Aslam said.
The Clay County Sheriff's Office determined the threat was a swatting call. Jeremy Clark, the Assistant Chief of the CCSO School Safety Department, said someone called into a hotline claiming an individual armed with an AR-15 style rifle and a pipe bomb was on the way to the school.
Clark said these calls are often made by people who do not live in the area, but sometimes they do involve local students.
"The idea is something that they gained online or through online chats or through gaming chats. So we just encourage parents to ask questions and be involved as much as possible if they see something along those lines," Clark explained.
Clark told First Coast News the people behind the calls usually want to disrupt and destabilize the community by prompting a large emergency response. He said this can put additional lives in danger.
"Every officer that's responding, running lots of sirens, and every motorist that he has to pass or drive past and every fire truck that's doing the same...the parents who get word of their child's school potentially being involved and then they're driving to try to get there. All of those people are put in harm's way and are put in danger as a result of this false alarm or this false call," Clark said.
According to CCSO, there have been 16 swatting calls made to other buildings and businesses in Clay County since the beginning of the year, with this being the first made to a school. This threat also had similar language to previous threats which the sheriff's office traced back to Connecticut.
While parents and students are relived this call was not credible, they now just want to see an end to these threats.
"We shouldn’t have to go through this…this is getting a little bit ridiculous," Foy said.