All Clear Issued After Schools Across Pennsylvania Receive Series of Threats

A series of threats were reportedly made against several schools in the state of Pennsylvania on Wednesday (March 29), but the Pennsylvania State Police just gave the all-clear.

The state police say there were threats of “an active shooter situation or bomb threat” at several schools in the state on Wednesday.  The threats were made via phone calls to officials, apparently. 

The exact scope of Wednesday’s threats was not immediately clear as well. In fact, the state police did not say how many schools were affected.

However, CBS Philadelphia reports that at least one of those schools was in the Lehigh Valley. They report that there was an increased police presence at William Allen High School in Allentown, Pa. this morning.

CBS Philadelphia says that Lehighton High School (located near Allentown) was briefly placed on lockdown this morning. Upon investigation, police did not find an active threat, and they ultimately deemed it to have been a hoax.

The threatening phone calls are believed to have been "computer-generated swatting calls," state police told Pittsburgh's KDKA-TV. "They are hoax calls made to emergency officials which aim to cause large police responses."

It's not clear how many schools in the state were placed on lockdown today. We did, however, find reports of alleged threats made against schools in cities as far away as Pittsburgh.

The good news, however, is that the Pennsylvania State Police said that after an initial investigation, all of the claims made in Wednesday's calls were determined to be false.

“We have responded to all incidents in our primary coverage areas and have been in contact with municipal law enforcement partners investigating these incidents in their coverage areas,” the state police tweeted on Wednesday around 12:50 pm. “All schools involved have been cleared or are in the process of being cleared.”