HOLLAND, Mich. — An unknown caller threatened violence to West Ottawa High School Friday morning, the Ottawa County Sheriff's Department said.
Deputies are investigating the validity of this threat and about a dozen law enforcement officers responded to school buildings in the area.
Several schools sheltered in place while detectives work to find out the source of the call.
"We believe that it's an unfounded threat at this point. Obviously, around April 20, unfortunately, historically, there has been violence and threats of violence on that date. So Nevertheless, we take every situation seriously and are really grateful for the relationships with the schools," Ottawa County Capt. Jake Sparks said.
The sheriff's office said they are aware that similar calls have been made to other school districts as well, including another school in Holland.
According to the Holland Department of Public Safety, all schools in Holland City and Hope College were notified of the threat and officers were posted there while police assessed the situation. However, no threat was found.
Friday, April 19 was already scheduled to be a half-day for West Ottawa High School students, according to the online calendar.
"I would just say that we take these incidents very seriously. You know, whether it's a prank or a swatting type situation or whatever's going on, we respond to everything the same. We respond to it as if it's real as if it's, you know, an emergency. We had units here very, very quickly," Capt. Sparks said. "We legitimately had a school resource deputy on the phone with the person making the call. That's how quick we were there. So that's an amazing deterrent and it's fortunate that nothing happened here today."
13 ON YOUR SIDE reached out to West Ottawa Public Schools for more information.
If you have any information about this threat, you're encouraged to call the sheriff's office or Silent Observer at 1-877-88-SILENT (745368) or mosotips.com
You can also submit a confidential tip using OK2SAY.
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