‘Swatting’ incident reported at Muscatine High School Tuesday

MUSCATINE, Iowa (KWQC) - A “swatting” incident was reported Tuesday morning at Muscatine High School.

“That means that a fake threat was called into the Muscatine Police Department from outside of the state of Iowa,” police and school officials said in a Facebook post. “The threat also referenced a staff member’s name that does not exist within our high school or district. Muscatine Police responded accordingly, swept the entire building, and once they informed us that there was no credible threat, we could resume the school day.”

They added, “While this is certainly a disruption to the day, we will do our best to resume school as normal at Muscatine High School. Should any students or staff need to speak with a counselor, please know it is okay.”

According to Muscatine police, Muscatine Joint Emergency Communication Center received a call about 8:25 a.m. from an unknown person reporting a shooting at Muscatine High School.

Similar ‘swatting’ calls happened in other school districts across the state of Iowa around the same time, officials said.

Muscatine police and fire departments and Muscatine County Sheriff’s department responded to the Muscatine High School, police said in a media release. It was quickly determined that the 911 call had been a hoax and no armed threat was at the school, nor was there any threat to students or staff.

Mulberry Elementary School was also temporarily locked down due to its proximity to Muscatine High School. Police said additional police presence remained at the high school in an effort to ease safety concerns of students and staff.

Muscatine police said the investigation is ongoing. Officers are working with outside agencies in an effort to identify those responsible.

Police ask anyone who may have information about this incident to contact Sergeant Jeff DeVrieze at 563-263 – 9922, ext. 629.

It was unknown whether the incident was related to a similar incident reported in Clinton Tuesday morning.

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