Franklin Connection - Serving Franklin County, WA

OTHELLO – The local high school was locked down Wednesday, May 10, after a reported threat.

According to a report, city police and the Adams County Sheriff’s Office responded to the high school, 340 S. Seventh St., at 11:18 a.m. after a threat of a school shooting.

The threat call, which was made to the Sheriff’s Office in Ritzville, indicated there was an armed person in front of the school, records show.

Responding authorities were joined by school staff; their search failed to locate any suspect or threat, records show.

As a precaution, the school remained locked down until authorities learned there were several threats from the same telephone number across Eastern Washington the same day.

“Incidents such as this are investigated by state and federal authorities,” the Othello Police Department said on social media. “OPD will provide any information to those agencies in efforts to hold callers accountable.”

The false threat calls came only a month after a similar incident Wednesday, April 12, in which bomb threats were called into multiple school districts.

Statewide, that threat was sent to 44 school districts statewide, including St. John-Endicott, Colfax, Columbia (Burbank), Dayton, Wilbur, Creston, Coulee City and Hartline.