Princeton City School District parents react to false active shooter threat

SHARONVILLE, Ohio — Princeton High School and Princeton Middle School have shut down and students have been released to parents after an active shooter hoax took place Friday morning, Sharonville police said.

A 911 caller reported the false shooter and at least 10 people injured at Princeton High School just before 10 a.m. Multiple police and emergency crews were dispatched to the high school and just before 11:30 a.m. confirmed that no one was injured and there was no shooter on the premises.

"Rest easy, breathe easy, everyone is safe," Sharonville Lt. Walter Cordes said.

Both the high school and middle school shut down for the rest of the day out of an abundance of caution. Friday night football for Princeton was also postponed.

Sharonville police are currently investigating the false report. The 911 caller that reported the fake active shooter left a phone number with a California area code, but police have not identified any possible suspects or leads in the investigation.

Parents were routed to Vineyard Cincinnati Church near the high school to wait for information and their children. Children that did not have parents there to pick them up were bussed home, Sharonville police said.

Zakiya Odessa, the mother of a 12-year-old Princeton Schools student, said her daughter informed her of the supposed threat from inside the gymnasium of the school.

"That's the worst phone call you could ever get," Odessa said.

'The worst phone call you could ever get': Mother reacts to Princeton HS active shooter hoax

Gerald Bailey — the father of an 11th and seventh grade students in the district — said the situation was stressful.

"I left work and sped over here," Bailey said. "It's heartbreaking. It was nerve-wracking."

Bailey was able to pick his children up near the school after they were released. He said most parents seem to collectively have a sigh of relief after they learned the report was a hoax.

'It was nerve-wracking': Parents react to Princeton High School active shooter threat

"I think everybody is a little bit more relaxed now and they're very relieved that their child is safe and no one was injured," Bailey said.

Bailey also praised the Princeton High School staff and everybody involved for how they handled everything, especially with the conflicting information of whether or not there was a shooter.

The hoax report is seemingly part of a larger trend of school districts receiving fake shooting threats, Princeton City Schools Superintendent Tom Burton said. On Friday, Catholic Central High School in Springfield, Belmont High School in Dayton and Licking Valley School District, which is east of Columbus, all dealt with other active shooter threat incidents.

"Everything feels weird," Odessa said. "I mean the way the world's going, you can't take anything lightly anymore. You cannot."

Odessa said it's sad that kids can't just be kids in today's world — especially in schools.

"Why can't our children go to school?" Odessa said. "In our days, you didn't have to worry about that. You might've had to worry about bullies, but we didn't have to worry about bullets."

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