Arrests made in false school shooting claim in Lemoore that tied up West Hills College

Three teens were arrested Tuesday for calling 911 earlier in the day and falsely claiming there was an active shooter at West Hills College in Lemoore.

The campus was put on lockdown after Lemoore police received a call of a shooter, then searched the campus and cleared each building for the next hour.

Multiple agencies responded to the threat, including Kings County District Attorney’s investigators, CHP Hanford Division, Kings County Sheriff’s Office, the Kings County Gang Task Fore and the Hanford Police Department.

Police said they tried to call the number that the threat came from, but no one answered.

The school resumed as usual after no credible threat was found and the lockout was lifted. The arrested teenagers were charged with conspiracy and reporting a false emergency.

“We take all threats serious and respond accordingly,” Lemoore police wrote on their Facebook page.

In addition to West Hills Lemoore being affected by the false claim, so were other schools located on the junior college's campus: a child development center, Lemoore Middle College High School and Lemoore University Elementary Charter School, which in all is about 5,000 students.

This story was originally published May 8, 2018 at 10:36 PM with the headline "Arrests made in false school shooting claim in Lemoore that tied up West Hills College."