UPDATED RELEASE 02-21-2023 2:45 PM
DOUGLAS COUNTY, Ore. – All Douglas County schools have been released from lockdown.
The Sheriff’s Office, working in conjunction with other local law enforcement agencies, responded this morning to false reports of active shooters in various Douglas County schools. Law Enforcement responded to each report utilizing active shooter response protocols and assessed each situation. Out of an abundance of caution, all schools were advised to activate their lockdown procedures.
Each school in the county was visited by law enforcement and determined to be safe at which point that school would be released from the lockdown. All lockdowns have been lifted and classes have resumed. If you have further concerns, please contact your local school office.
The Sheriff’s Office was in communication with school administrators and the Douglas Education Services District who assisted greatly during the initial response phase.
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ORIGINAL RELEASE 02-21-2023 10:00 AM
DOUGLAS COUNTY, Ore. – Law enforcement is receiving FALSE reports of an active shooter at various Douglas County Schools. At this time, all reports are false. However, law enforcement is responding to each report and taking each report seriously. Law enforcement is working in partnership with all schools to ensure safety of students and staff.
Parents may have a reaction to want to pick up their child from school and we urge parents to please not do that. Doing so can result in additional chaos and panic as well as detract law enforcement from focusing on their assigned tasks.
“We believe these to be swatting incidents to instigate police response and generate panic among responders and community members,” Lt. Brad O’Dell said. “There have been similar incidents occurring nationwide for at least the past 24 hours. Law Enforcement will respond to and assess each incident appropriately.”
Lt O’Dell also recommends that the community avoid calling 9-1-1 or the non-emergency number to check on the status of these incidents or to inquire about picking up students. “The 9-1-1 center is being overrun with these calls making managing an already stressful incident even more so,” he said. “This also prevents delays in answering other life or death emergency calls and dispatching the appropriate resources.”
The community is urged to look to credible news sources, government and local emergency response organizations for updates to avoid misinformation.