Update | Lockdown lifted at Southridge High after police search room by room for weapon
Reports of a weapon or shooting at a Tri-Cities high school may have been part of a larger hoax targeting schools across Washington state.
Police have finished searching Southridge High School and first responders were cleared at 1:40 p.m. after investigating a report of a weapon inside the school forced a lockdown Friday morning, according to emergency scanner traffic.
The lockdowns were lifted just before 2 p.m., but the district was not yet allowing parents in.
Kennewick Police searched the school room by room for about two hours. No weapons, injuries or suspects were found.
Kennewick schools said that the police department received a call about a weapon in a classroom just before noon they began sweeping the building to determine if the threat was credible, according to a social media post from the school district.
Kennewick Police Commander Aaron Clem told the Herald that no one was found injured and there were no reports of gunfire.
Students had barricaded in classrooms and bathrooms, according to emergency scanner traffic. Meanwhile, worried parents began arriving, filling nearby parking lots.
Nearby Chinook Middle School and Sage Crest Elementary were also locked down as a precaution.
Claims of an active shooter or shooting on social media were not true.
Parents parked across the street near the hospital waiting for news, and were staging in the sports complex parking lot.
The post from the school district also said the report of a weapon may be part of a hoax targeting multiple schools. According to the Spokesman-Review, three high schools in the Spokane area also have been locked down after similar reports.
The district said that schools across the state have reported similar calls on Friday, that appear to be part of a coordinated hoax.
This was at least the third incident at Southridge in 2022. In January a teen was arrested for having a gun in his backpack, and in September an altercation between multiple students prompted a heavy police presence.
This story is developing. It will be updated.
This story was originally published December 9, 2022 at 12:27 PM.
