Swatting Incident at Iowa High School Puts Community on Edge

It's been a long, hard summer for residents of Uvalde, Texas where last May a school shooting killed 2 adults and 19 children. As that community continues to mourn those lost and search for answers, others are looking for ways to shore up their school security protocols so this doesn't happen to them. The last thing anyone needs is a prank-active shooting call.

That reportedly happened, however, at Des Moines Lincoln High School. According to We Are Iowa, Principal Paul Williamson took to Facebook to describe the situation.

Fortunately, it was easy to quickly determine this was a prank, also known as "swatting"  because. there is no "room 21" at the school and no gunshots were ever heard.

One thing that's been in question all summer after Uvalde's incident is a slow police response, but in this incident, Des Moines police were able to take quick action. According to Sgt. Paul Parizek:

There's too much at risk to delay our response at all so it's a measured response but a massive response.

Parents were on edge over the prank call but are grateful for that response.

Even if you were reassuring them that everything was okay in there, you could still see the weight of the stress and fear on their faces," Parizek said. "And that when it comes to a swatting incident, [that] is probably one of the most frustrating pieces."

The person who made the prank call and caused the false alarm could face misdemeanor charges.

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