SAN ANTONIO — East Central High School parent Brittany Edwards said when she got a panicked phone call from her daughter about a dangerous threat on campus Monday morning, she raced to the school.
"I'm over here hauling ass at 100 just to get over here and get on the front row and everybody says it's a hoax," Edwards said. "It's a joke. What kind of joke is that? My daughter's up there screaming and crying. I'm telling her to stay low. I'm on the way. What can we do about it? I don't approve of it."
Standing in the heat in the street outside the campus, Edwards said the wait for answers was too long.
"We didn't even get no phone call. I didn't even know what the hell was going on. My daughter was telling me there was an active shooter and someone got stabbed upstairs," Edwards said, adding some kind of messaging during a critical incident is absolutely essential.
Parent Mark Calvin agreed, saying the text messages he was receiving from his 9th grade son were terrifying.
"He texted me 'I love you Dad. There's shots fired outside my classroom. The teacher is putting us in a closet.'" Calvin said.
Choking with emotion, Calvin said the toll of what turned out to be a hoax was overwhelming.
"My heart dropped. My son's only 14 years old. He looks up to me. I can't think about losing my son because some kid wants to get mad at somebody else and bring a gun to school to settle a score. Back in our day we used our fists. We didn't use guns and we lived to fight another day," Calvin said.
Calvin called on district administrators to do more to keep everyone safe.
"Our kids come to school all stressed out wanted to kill other kids and staff members of our schools. It's got to stop. And it's time for us as parents to stand up and put our foot down with these schools. And not only the schools, but our children as well," Calvin said.
Grandmother Cindy Arzola was one of hundreds who showed up hoping to get her child out of harm's way.
"I'm scared for my granddaughter. I'm scared for all the kids. We did not get a phone call. We heard it on the news. My aunt called me to tell me and now they're telling us it's going to take from one to two hours to get our child. It's unacceptable. It's very unacceptable. These kids are scared. We have children that are crying in there," Arzola said.
Parent Sherry Moncada left the campus after picking up her daughter Sarah, saying she planned to spend the rest of the day in gratitude that the threats called into the campus were words, and not deranged action.
"I'm going to be sitting there talking with her and just hugging her and thanking God that she's okay," she said. "It's horrible for kids to be doing that. You know all of us out here not knowing what's going on nobody is telling us anything so parents need to be aware of what their kids are doing and not doing at all times. Somebody needs to be punished. Whoever did it needs to be punished because this isn't fair for us."
After Jerry Woodard caught up with his son Skylar, the two came back to the waiting area with a case of bottled water to help parents still waiting in the heat.
Woodard called the incident a big scare.
"But I don't know, it's this new world, and we have to live with and try to deal with and find ways to prevent this," he said. "I think the law enforcement here stepped up and they did what they were supposed to do and cleared it up and everyone is safe for now, so I appreciate all them."
Of his time in lockdown, Woodard's son Skylar added, "Nobody knew anything really about what was all happening. All we heard was from parents or an email that we would get."
Skylar said he was relieved to be headed home.
"I feel safe and free and I'm not scared for my life, and that's a good feeling," Skylar said.
With regard to the future, Superintendent Roland Toscano said he is confident district police personnel and area law enforcement agencies will work together to track down the source of the threat.
"We will, to the extent of what is appropriate in the administrative code, as well as the penal code, pursue whatever charges are appropriate," Toscano said.
His message to the person who perpetrated the hoax was one of shame.
"And for anybody who does this sort of thing intentionally? It deploys a lot of resources, scares a lot of people and shame on whoever was responsible. I would encourage you folks to think twice about doing such a thing. It really effects people and communities in a negative way," Toscano said.