Police swarmed the Oakland neighborhood of Pittsburgh on Wednesday after calls for an active shooter came in. It turned out to be a hoax, but the officer’s response was real.
According to Pittsburgh police, they quickly learned the active shooter calls were not true, but they made sure both Oakland and Central Catholic high schools were safe. Law enforcement worked meticulously through each school, which are blocks apart from each other.
“Within a minute, we were notified that there was no active shooter at Central Catholic,” Acting Pittsburgh Police Chief Thomas Stangrecki said.
As a precaution, Pittsburgh Police were assisted by several agencies. Some of them included the Allegheny County Sheriff’s Department, Port Authority police, state police, the ATF and the FBI. Their first step was to clear Central Catholic and go room by room. Law enforcement then checked every area to make sure no one was causing any harm.
“There was no active shooter. There was no one injured the students were locked down in place,” Stangrecki said.
Just as they finished this, they got the call for an active shooter threat at Oakland Catholic. They quickly responded and search the school. Students and staff there were escorted by officers, many of whom were heavily armed, across the street to St. Paul Cathedral.
Many students showed emotion over the trauma of the event.
“We treated it as a real incident. We were prepared to confront any active shooters in the building,” Stangrecki said.
After they cleared Oakland Catholic, they worked on reuniting students from both schools with their families. Mayor Ed Gainey complimented the quick action and hard work of all the first responders.
“Our greatest asset is our children. We’ve got to keep them safe. We have to continue to work together to ensure that happens,” Gainey said.
