(Reuters) -Boulder High School and a handful of Colorado school districts went into lockdown on Wednesday after receiving threats earlier in the day, police and school administrators said, but the orders were lifted after officers found no credible threat.
Police cruisers, fire trucks and ambulances rushed to the school, attended by some 2,170 students, at a little before 9 a.m.
local time after a man called police threatening to go inside the school, Boulder Police Chief Maris Herold told reporters on Wednesday.
“Caller relayed that he was out in front of Boulder High School – he had semi-automatic weapons and was ready to go into the high school,” Herold said, noting that what sounded like gunfire could be heard in the background of the call.
Police imposed a shelter-in-place order earlier in the morning but lifted it after officers found no evidence of a gunman or victims.
About 200 people were evacuated after the report, he said, adding that fewer students than usual were at school since classes start at a delayed time on Wednesdays.
After a briefing, a reporter asked if the incident was a hoax; Herold declined to answer instead saying the investigation is ongoing.
The FBI in Denver said it was aware of numerous threats made to a variety of organizations and institutions across the state on Wednesday, saying it had no information to indicate a specific and credible threat.
The Alamosa School District, 230 miles south of Boulder, said someone called early Wednesday morning saying an armed individual had entered a middle school there, triggering a lockdown that was lifted soon thereafter.
Brighton High School, about 25 miles east of Boulder, had also been under lockdown after police in that city received a phone threat about Ortega Middle School. The Brighton Police Department said in a tweet that officers have found no credible threat to students or the surrounding community, and that lockdown had been lifted.
Schools in Canon and Aspen were also placed on lockdown after receiving threats on Wednesday morning. Those lockdowns have since been lifted, school officials said.
(Reporting by Brendan O’Brien in Chicago and Kanishka Singh in Washington; Editing by Aurora Ellis)
