An apparent “swatting” incident late Thursday morning, May 28, led to school lockdowns and a police response near Sweet Home High School.
The incident began at approximately 12:07 p.m. when the department received a call from a male who reported that his sister shot their parents at a residence across the street from the Sweet Home High School football field and track, according to a statement released later by Sweet Home police.
At the time of the call, special education students from Sweet Home and four other school districts were participating in a kickball tournament on Husky Field.
“We had 150 people on the field, over 100 of them students,” said Terry Martin, Sweet Home School DIstrict superintendent. The others were staff, “fans” and family members, he said.
Police Chief Jason Ogden said officers were able to respond quickly to 22nd Avenue and were able to use the loud speaker to move participants off the field.
Meanwhile, nearby schools were placed on lockdown to ensure the safety of all students and staff, police said in a statement released after the incident.
— Photo by Mack Knebel
While police tried to determine the reality of the report, including a visit to an address that had been reported in the phone call, things were moving fast on the other side of the stadium, Martin said.
Police shut down 22nd Avenue and school personnel initially directed the people on the field into the stands, then moved them behind the west grandstand.
Meanwhile, Martin contacted the district Transportation Department, located on 18th Avenue across from the Boys & Girls Club.
“They dropped what they were doing and rolled four buses over,” he said. All the students and most of the adults were loaded on the buses and transported to the high school.
Investigators determined the incident was prompted by a hoax. “Swatting” is a slang term for
making a prank call to emergency services in an attempt to bring about the dispatch of a large number of armed police officers to a particular location.
Under Oregon law, someone convicted of initiating a false report a Class A misdemeanor, is required to repay the costs incurred in responding to and investigating the false report. If the false report results in the deployment of a SWAT team or similar law enforcement unit, the perpetrator is required to serve at least 10 days in jail.
Ogden said police are still actively investigating the incident and that “If someone hears anything, the best thing they can do is give us info that they may know about it.”
Anyone with information is asked to contact the SHPD at (541) 367-5181.
Martin credited district staff and police with the swift response in getting the students out of the area.
“We had that variety of students evacuate from the field to the bleachers, and then from the bleachers to the back of the bleachers, and I’m told it happened in two minutes’ time,” he said.
“Things went really well. The kids were kept safe, the staff did a super job. SHPD and the Sheriff’s Office and EMS, the ambulances were there staging. They blocked traffic and shut down the neighborhood and got the kids out.”
Ogden said police do drills in which “we try to think about these things.”
“I think it went really well,” he said. “Training kicks in and hopefully it goes as smoothly as it did (Thursday).”
Martin said that situations like Thursday’s “you cannot plan or prepare for.”
“It doesn’t show up in the books anywhere that you’re going to have five different districts’ students for a Unified kickball tournament on the field when something like that happens.
“That’s what everybody was doing, working together to keep kids safe. That’s the priority right here and then.
“Of course, we want to let parents and community know as quickly as we can, but our No. 1 job is kids’ safety.
“That was a success.”