Students released, no guns or bombs found after threat locks down MS Coast schools
Three hours after a call came in Thursday from a person claiming to be in West Harrison County High School with a gun and bombs, Harrison County Sheriff Matt Haley issued the all-clear shortly before 5:30 p.m. and students were collecting their backpacks and going home.
The call came in at 2:30 p.m. from a “spoofed number,” Haley said.
“It actually came into our 911 system,” he said. “Right around the time school’s letting out.”
Although the call didn’t provide any information about who made the threat, “We do have some leads we’re working on now,” he said.
After a thorough search of both schools, Biloxi Police Department’s bomb squad responded to assist with the threat of explosives. The sheriff’s department said no weapons or explosives were located in the schools.
“My first thought is yes, it’s an end of the year prank,” the sheriff said, but he couldn’t treat it that way. He called in back-up, including the Mississippi Bureau of Investigation, border patrol, highway patrol, Gulfport police and the Biloxi K-9 squad, who he said would be making another sweep of the school.
“We came up empty handed,” Haley said. They did a secondary search and again found nothing, he said.
“At that point we started evacuating the students. We were successful getting all students out of the school,” he said.
At 4:30 p.m.,the sheriff said they had not yet given an all-clear but they were in the process of evacuating all students and releasing them to their parents.
The school was cleared room by room.
Students were released in this order:
▪ Bus riders first.
▪ Officials then had parents pick up students.
▪ Then the school released student drivers.
It was a stressful day for students, teachers and staff, who instead of going home after school, were locked down and Canal Road was closed.
“Yes, they’re both on lock down,” confirmed Deputy Hanna Hendry with the Harrison County Sheriff’s office at 3:25 p.m. Thursday.
At 3:40 p.m., the sheriff’s office posted the following to Facebook: “At this time the Harrison County Sheriff’s Office is on scene at West Harrison High School after receiving a threat via phone call of a person with a gun at the school.
“Deputies have cleared all buildings and are in the process of evacuating and accounting for all students at this time. Parents needing to pick up a student are asked to go to the West Harrison middle School and remain at that location. If a student is driving they will be released as soon as possible.”
The middle school is on Landon Road and the high school is close by on County Farm Road.
Parents questioned on Facebook why they weren’t notified about the lockdowns and posted texts from their children inside the school.
Haley said he had a niece in the school and understood the parents’ concerns and notified the families as soon as they could.
“Our main priority is the safety of our kids,” he said.
Anyone with information regarding this incident is asked to contact the Harrison County Sheriff’s office at 228-897-1364.
This story was originally published May 16, 2024 at 3:44 PM.
