Long Beach police rushed to Stephens Middle School in West Long Beach Wednesday afternoon after a child called 911 to say a student had a gun on the playground — a report that turned out to be false.
Police treated the threat seriously, rushing to the school and calling in a helicopter to help them scour the schoolyard where many students were outside at around 1:30 p.m. Officers hurried to find the student the caller falsely reported was involved and the teacher the student was supposedly with.
A Long Beach Police Department spokesperson said officers quickly determined the call was “non-credible,” and they began looking for the person who called 911.
“Officers determined three juvenile subjects placed the call,” the spokesperson said. “They were briefly contacted and subsequently released back to school administration staff.”
Stephens did not have to be placed on lockdown, and students remained safe, according to Long Beach Unified School District Spokesperson Elvia Cano.
Long Beach and other school districts have recently dealt with a wave of unfounded threats. Last week, the LBUSD said it was among the districts affected by social media threats “circulating nationwide.”