Bullitt East and four JCPS schools have been the victims of a national swatting situation this morning.

On March 20, 2024, Bullitt East received a call indicating a bomb threat from “ISIS”. Bullitt East immediately notified the School Resource Officer (SRO) from MWPD to address this issue. BEHS also went on a soft lockdown at 9:10 a.m., which was unrelated to the bomb threat.

“So today, the front desk received a phone call. And you call the school, the telephone number that you’re calling from. It was an out-of-state phone call and they indicated that there was an explosive device in the school. It was gonna go up in ten minutes and then that they were outside with an AR-15,” said SRO Ed Johnson.

“So the numbers that they used was the same number they’ve been using. They’ve done this several times at other schools prior to today’s date, So we knew that the threat wasn’t credible however,” stated Johnson.

Johnson also indicated that they would not have evacuated the school in this scenario had it been a real threat, because students would then be in further danger. “I had the 8Mt. Washington Patrol Division come to the school and just kind of hang out for a while. Mostly so that if your parents found out about it, they feel a little bit better about it. And you know, our guys have kids that go here to feel better so they feel better, but there was no credible threat,” said Johnson.

“I strongly encourage all parents to keep their children in school today and send their children to school tomorrow, understanding that they are as safe as any other day. We should not allow wrongdoers to rob our students of their education or disrupt our excellent school culture,” Principal Nathan Fulghum stated in a press release. While this event is a hoax, it is still a serious event and spreading misinformation of this degree is unlawful.

Students in JCPS schools are also affected by this today. A JCPS spokesperson told WLKY that students at Ballard High School were kept on the football field, students at Westport Middle were held in a gym separate from the school and both Atherton and Wilder students were held on a soft lockdown. All JCPS schools threatened were fully searched by police and safety protocols were followed by administrators.