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SBPD says call reporting active shooter at Success Academy was unfounded

Justin Hicks
/
IPB News

The South Bend Police Department says a Tuesday call reporting an active shooter at the Success Academy charter school was unfounded.

In a statement, police spokeswoman Ashley O’Chap said officers responded to a report of an active shooter at the school around 12:30 p.m., but that no threat actually existed.

Officers went through the building and confirmed that all students and staff are safe, and that there’s also no threat to students and staff at the Success Academy charter school.

In a Thursday update, O'Chap said the South Bend Police Department has identified, located and interviewed the juvenile who made the 911 call, and that they were not a student at Success Academy. She also said no legitimate threat has been identified.

In recent weeks, schools across the United States have been targeted with hoax calls reporting active shooters. NPR’s Odette Yousef reported earlier this month that there were at least 113 incidents of fake active shooter calls across 19 states between September 13 and October 5. She also reported that the calls appear to be coordinated and may be coming from overseas.

Contact Jakob at jlazzaro@wvpe.org or follow him on Twitter at @JakobLazzaro.

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Updated: October 18, 2022 at 4:44 PM EDT
Updated with more info from the South Bend Police Department.
Jakob Lazzaro came to Indiana from Chicago, where he graduated from Northwestern University in 2020 with a degree in Journalism and a double major in History. Before joining WVPE, he wrote NPR's Source of the Week e-mail newsletter, and previously worked for CalMatters, Pittsburgh's 90.5 WESA and North by Northwestern.