SAN ANTONIO — East Central High School has been hit with two hoax calls within three days.
Students were forced to evacuate the school after a fake bomb threat Wednesday morning. School leaders said it appears that call came from the same group who made the hoax call about an active shooter on Monday.
Parents are now stating how these scenarios have made their children anxious.
“It’s just been very nerve racking and scary,” Jessica Puente said.
Jessica Puente has a freshmen and a senior at the high school. She said she has never felt this uneasy sending her kids to school.
“You know we got it twice in one week,” Puente said.
Elizabeth Tucker shares that fear.
“Our kids shouldn’t have to be living like that,” Tucker said.
The Bexar County Sheriff’s Office reported the calls could be coming from out of the country. However, retired FBI agent Abel Pena said it just may be the technology the callers are using to make it appear that way.
“They can utilize what they call virtual private networks, VPNS to make it seem like they are operating or calling from a different country but in fact they are calling from next door,” Pena said.
From Pena’s experience, he said these hoaxes or swatting calls can be dangerous and traumatizing.
“It takes a toll especially when it’s this repetitive like we’ve seen,” Pena said.
Both Tucker and Puente are worried their kids’ education will suffer if these false threats continue.
“It’s gotten to the point where the kids don’t even want to go back to school the next day,” Puente said.
Tucker added, “It’s very disruptive because now they have to focus on getting their nerves to calm down.”
Since Tuesday, the high school has provided extra counselors to help both staff and students who are dealing with more anxiety or stress because of these incidents. Investigators have yet to make any arrests connected to these hoaxes.
“Law enforcement agencies are collectively working together within the United States and International law enforcement,” Pena said. “They collaborate to investigate, they apprehend these swatters, and they cooperate with each other, so they are going to combat these issues of swatters.”