Newark High School has anonymous threats made to its staff last week.
There have been no arrests made yet in connection to last week’s incident at Newark High School involving an anonymous caller making threats.
At approximately 1:10 p.m. on Thursday, Jan. 4, the Newark Police Department Communications Center received a phone call from a subject claiming that they were outside of Newark High School, in Christina School District, and were planning to enter the school and shoot students and staff members.
Sgt. Jay Conover, part of the crime analysis/criminal intelligence units and the leader of the Crisis Negotiations Team at the department, said Monday that there is still an active investigation into the situation.
The department confirmed that there was not believed to be a threat to the public and the incident was of the “swatting” type.
“Swatting is currently defined as the practice of making a fraudulent or false call to emergency services reporting serious criminal threats or violent situations in an attempt to bring about the dispatch of a large number of first responders, often law enforcement, to a particular location,” Conover said. “It is extremely dangerous for all parties involved from the first responders to the occupants in and around the location where they are responding to.”
There is no additional information on the person who called in, other than the fact that they said they were planning to enter the school and shoot students and staff members.
Newark Police school resource officers along with Christina School District constables, who were already at the school, immediately responded to the threatening phone call.
Additional Newark Police patrol officers also responded to the scene, and officers quickly determined that no shooting or acts of violence were taking place in or around the school.
Christina School District stated it is unable to comment on an active investigation, but will continue to work closely with local law enforcement agencies.
The “swatting” type of incident has been a growing problem.
“We can not speak for the entire state of Delaware,” Conover said, “but swatting in general has become more common in the past several years, so much so that the FBI has created a database to help track and prevent future incidents.”
Raised in Doylestown, Pennsylvania, Jarek earned a B.A. in journalism and a B.A. in political science from Temple University in 2021. After running CNN’s Michael Smerconish’s YouTube channel, Jarek became a reporter for the Bucks County Herald before joining Delaware LIVE News.
Jarek can be reached by email at [email protected] or by phone at (215) 450-9982. Follow him on Twitter @jarekrutz
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