Police investigating multi-district bomb threat hoaxes across North Texas schools
North Texas schools close amid hoax bomb threats
Coppell High School remained closed Wednesday as authorities investigated a phoned-in bomb threat, marking the third incident reported at a North Texas high school this morning.
COPPELL, Texas - Coppell High School was one of three schools in North Texas impacted by bomb threats.
It has been seen before where multiple campuses are hit by the same hoax message that police are now investigating.
School closures in North Texas
Coppell High School bomb threat
What we know:
Coppell ISD officials and local police were first notified of the potential threat around 8:20 a.m. The school’s opening was immediately delayed, and students and staff already on-site were evacuated while Coppell police conducted a comprehensive sweep of the building.
Evacuated students were transported to an off-site reunification center to meet their families, and officials later confirmed the campus would remain closed for the duration of the day.
Local perspective:
The disruption in Coppell follows a series of similar threats targeting other regional campuses earlier in the morning.
Coppell High School bomb threat
Three high schools in North Texas, across three different districts, reported bomb threats. Coppell and Anna high schools both closed their campuses this morning as a precaution.
Duncanville High School did have classes, saying they were able to sweep the campus before students arrived.
Coordinated statewide hoax
What they're saying:
As for Anna ISD, nothing turned up during a search of the high school campus. The superintendent shared this message with the community.
"Early this morning, before 6am we received notification that there was a message at Anna High School about a potential bomb threat," said Tony Tucker, Anna ISD Superintendent.
"We have since learned that multiple districts across our area in the state received the exact same message that we did, so we still wanted to make sure we were safe with your students."
Other campuses across Texas also received bomb threats today. Several of them in Central Texas near Austin and San Antonio.
What we don't know:
At this time, investigators have not released details regarding the specific nature of the threats or whether the three incidents are connected. Police continue to monitor area campuses as a precaution while they work to identify potential suspects.
Criminologist on the false threats
Dig deeper:
Criminologist Alex del Carmen shares what he thinks this means.
"This is a crime," said the criminologist.
"You know, your life just almost ends immediately, you know, in terms of your peace, your mind, because you're thinking, ‘Oh my gosh, this is Columbine, or this is parkland. This is, you know, Uvalde.’"
While these turned out to be hoaxes, del Carmen says they still take resources away from cities.
"It's not typical. But what it does tell me is that it's likely the same offender," said del Carmen.
"They have to take every single threat seriously, and they have to respond with the same level of assertiveness that they do for those that are real."
He shares this word of advice with parents.
"Make sure that, first of all, your kid has a plan of action, has a plan to communicate with you, that your kids are situationally aware of where they are. You need to go over the to-do's and the not-to-do's, if something like that happens."
Classes scheduled to resume
What's next:
All campuses have said they are set to resume classes at their normal schedule tomorrow.
The Source: Information in this article comes from Coppell ISD, Anna ISD, Duncanville ISD and previous reporting.