JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — UPDATE: No suspect or firearm has been found at First Coast High School after a 911 call reported an armed person in distress inside a school bathroom, Jacksonville Sheriff's Office Patrol Chief Jaime Eason told reporters during a press conference Monday afternoon.
Eason said a 911 call was made at 1:46 p.m. on Monday reporting a person was in distress inside a school bathroom that was "going to cause harm to people in the school".
Within five minutes, officers were inside the school building conducting a thorough search for a suspect and a possible firearm, however, nothing was found.
The call prompted the school to go on lockdown just before school dismissal on Monday.
However, during the press conference around 3:15 p.m., police said all teachers and students were dismissed as investigators made a final sweep through the campus in search of a suspect or firearm. Again, nothing was found.
The two 911 calls that reported the incident appeared to have come from the same number, according to Eaton.
Police said a name of an individual was given to police at the time of the 911 call, however, the person is not a student at the school.
"The name is not even panning out to be a student even at that school, or even a real name," Eaton said, adding investigators plan to trace the phone number that the report came from.
"If we do find a suspect," Eaton said, "there could be criminal charges brought on that person."
Eaton said despite a heightened response from police, the reports seem to be fake.
"As of right now, it appears to be a hoax," said Eaton, "either way, we always take these calls very, very seriously, we take them as real calls, because especially when children are involved in schools in this day in age."
According to Eaton, upwards of 30 officers were on the scene within minutes of the call.
First Coast High School typically releases at 2 p.m., so the carline stretched down Duval Station Road as parents anxiously waited for updates.
“I got a text from my daughter saying they had it on lockdown and that they were moving them into the classroom, they were laying on the ground, then they moved them into the closet," said First Coast High Parent Kara Johnson. "So, I rushed up here.”
Dismissal finally started just before 3 p.m.
A student told First Coast News they were dismissed one hall at a time.
By around 3:30, the carline had mostly cleared out and the buses, loaded full of students, were on the roads.
"I don't remember all this stuff when I was a kid," said Johnson. "My daughter is in there. She's in 9th grade, so she's freaking out. It's just weird that this is the world that we live in. That you have to worry about the safety of your kids just to go to school and get an education."
