On Monday, while responding to an allegation of an armed person within the school that was subsequently determined to be a hoax, a Danvers police officer unintentionally discharged a gun inside a building at St. John’s Preparatory School, according to officials.
According to State Police, Danvers police notified nearby agencies at 1:49 p.m. that they were responding to an allegation of a gunman inside the school. According to Danvers police chief James Lovell, an officer from his department fired a gun inside a middle school building’s toilet during a preliminary search of the campus. He claimed there was nobody else in the restroom and there had been no injuries.
The accidental discharge triggered a larger law enforcement response, Lovell said.
“Our initial response was a small response of our patrol force,” he said. “Due to the accidental discharge, that’s what really kind of ramped up the response. Typically we would have probably just kept our patrol force investigating initially, but when we had that report we didn’t know where it happened originally or how it occurred so we had a large response.”
At the time of the accidental discharge, a number of additional people who were in Brother Benjamin Hall called 911, according to Headmaster Edward P. Hardiman. Just before 2:00 p.m., dozens of State Police troopers and Danvers Police officers entered St. John’s but found no threats or injured people.
On Monday afternoon, officers went building by building through the school. Just after 2 p.m., Boston Police officers went to BC High, which is situated at 150 Morrissey Blvd. According to Boston Police, no threats were found.
Officials from St. John’s stated that the incident was probably caused by “swatting.” The phrase describes fabricated threats that aim to elicit a response from law enforcement. In recent months, it has affected numerous Massachusetts schools.
“We believe that St. John’s was the victim of a Swatting call. Everyone is safe, there have been no injuries and police are currently clearing campus buildings as we account for all students,” a notice on the school’s website said Monday evening.
Students who fled school grounds on their own were being directed and shuttled to the Stop & Shop located at 301 Newbury St. in Danvers, according to State Police. Parents were also being directed there to be reunited with their children.
