An anonymous call warning that "bad things" would occur at two high schools in Miami triggered a police response at both campuses and the temporary lockdown of thousands of students on Friday, according to WSVN. The Miami-Dade School Police determined that the threat was false and lifted the lockdown with no injuries reported.
The agents simultaneously responded to Miami Senior High School and Southwest Miami Senior High School, where K9 units checked the parked vehicles in the surrounding areas while officers inspected the interiors of the buildings. Once the search was completed, the authorities signaled that it was clear and the schools resumed normal activities.
Miami Senior High, located in the heart of Little Havana, is one of the educational centers with the highest Cuban and Cuban-American presence in the city. With an enrollment of approximately 3,100 students, around 96% are Hispanic, and the school serves numerous families of recent arrivals from the island. Southwest Miami Senior High adds another 2,500 students with a similar demographic, making both schools landmarks of the Hispanic community in the southwestern part of the county.
As of the time of publication, authorities had not reported any arrests nor disclosed the identity of the person who made the call.
The incident adds to a wave of false threats that is affecting Miami-Dade since mid-March of this year. Shopping centers such as Dolphin Mall and Dadeland Mall, the Miami Zoo, the International Airport —where 148 flights were canceled and another 185 were delayed— and numerous schools in the county have been targeted by similar alarms. In September, Hollywood Hills High School, located in Broward County, was also placed on lockdown due to a threat that turned out to be false.
In August, a student from Miami-Dade College in Hialeah was arrested after posting a mass shooting threat on Instagram; the bail was set at 5,000 dollars.
In Florida, anyone who makes a false threat against a school may face charges for a second-degree felony, with penalties of up to 15 years in prison and fines of up to $10,000. For students, state law mandates a minimum one-year expulsion from the regular school environment, in addition to possible referral to the juvenile or criminal justice system.
The protocol of Miami-Dade County Public Schools (M-DCPS) during a lockdown instructs parents not to come to the school until authorities lift the alert and to await official communications from the district.
The Miami-Dade Sheriff's Office had already warned in April that such calls "endanger the public and emergency personnel, and divert resources from real emergencies," and emphasized that "making false threats is no joke, it is a crime."
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