BUFFALO, N.Y. — Many students and parents are still feeling unsettled from fake active shooter calls at several Western New York schools Thursday.
These types of calls are not taken lightly by law enforcement. If caught by police, attorney Sarah Wesley says falsely reporting an incident and making a terroristic threat are just a few charges perpetrators will face, which are all considered felonies.
According to Wesley, getting caught as a juvenile can land a delinquent in jail until they are 21 years old.
During the events, parent Traci Mellott was at work when she got the text from her 17-year-old son Zachary that his school was on lockdown.
"He said we're on lockdown, and I said, 'whoah,' that's a scary text. I need more information than that. He said, 'I don't know anything, but I'll keep you up to date,'" Mellot said.
She continues to say, "He was actually in a lab. So he was out of his class, not in a normal classroom. There were 10 or 11 kids in there with him and a teacher, and he was safe. They were all in a corner."
That's when Traci learned the lockdown was after a false report of an active shooter.
"My initial thought was what happened in Nashville. It's been happening consistently in our country," Mellot said.
According to data from Gun Violence Archive, there have been more mass shootings this year than last. The cases in Western New York Thursday were a hoax.
Since 2017, the City of Buffalo has kept data on the number of terroristic threats. Last year, there were 28; out of the 28, three reportedly involved juveniles. This year there's been one incident unrelated to this week's scare.
New York State Police also say the threats were a hoax and have been happening across the state. Gov. Kathy Hochul says the state is working with schools to protect kids.
"I want parents to know that we are taking every single incident very seriously. We treat it as if it's real, but the reality is, this was meant to disrupt and cause chaos in our school system," Hochul said.
On Friday, New York State Police and State Education Department sent a letter to school administrators to instruct them to review preparedness and safety measures.
"Every child in New York deserves to feel safe at school and every parent should trust that their child will return home at the end of every day," Hochul said in a release.
"State and local law enforcement are conducting increased monitoring to make sure that all of our students are safe, and our first responders are always prepared in the event of an emergency. While these false threats of violence occur across the country, New York is taking proactive steps so that they do not become a reality."