No Arrests Made After Waxahachie High School, Ninth Grade Academy Locked Down

Waxahachie police are investigating two separate threats made against two schools Wednesday, but no arrests have been made.

Lt. Todd Woodruff with the Waxahachie Police Department confirmed that at least two students received texts from the same unknown phone number where the sender threatened to "shoot up" Waxahachie High School.

The high school and nearby Ninth Grade Academy were both locked down and students were sheltered in place while police investigated.

NBC 5 learned Wednesday night that four Red Oak Independent School District students have been questioned in connection with the threatening text messages received at Waxahachie High School.

No charges have been filed yet, and it's unclear if any charges will be filed.

While the incident was investigated the district published a series of tweets advising that the campuses were in a shelter in place mode and that the doors were locked with students taking cover inside classrooms. The district also tweeted that the students were safe, lights were on in the classrooms and that classes were continuing normally.

At least one juvenile was reportedly taken into custody earlier in the day, according to police.

Police said just before noon, a teenager at Red Oak High School had been taken into custody and a phone believed to have been used to send the texts was confiscated. Shortly before 12:30 p.m., officials with the district tweeted "suspects have been apprehended by WPD" and that the "suspects were not WISD students nor were they Waxahachie community members."

Officials have not identified the "suspects" or clarified how many people may have been involved.

A parent whose daughter attends Waxahachie High School told NBC 5 that her child, and others, received a text saying they had about 10 minutes to get out of the school. The parent said she also received a recorded phone call from the school saying an unidentified person had entered the building at about 9:45 a.m. School officials have not confirmed whether any unauthorized person entered the building.

The husband of a school employee told NBC 5 that during the lock down classes were not resuming as normal and that no one had checked his wife's room, despite the message tweeted by officials.

After the Red Oak student was taken into custody, the campuses were cleared and allowed to resume a normal schedule.

At noon, as the incident at the high school and Ninth Grade Academy were drawing to a close, officials learned of a written bomb threat at Waxahachie's Finley Jr. High School.

The school was locked down and searched by police and bomb-sniffing dogs at about 1 p.m. Two hours later, the school was cleared when nothing was found.

Kim Roberts has children at both schools. Her son texted her from Waxahachie High School moments afterlearning what was going on.

“’Someone threatened to shoot up the school, but it’s all good,’ and I said, 'OK babe, let me know if anything else happens. Love you,'” Roberts said, reading the text message exchange.

“In my mind I was thinking, ‘He thinks everything is OK, but is it really?’” Roberts said.

At this time, police have not revealed a motive for either threat or disclosed the name(s) of those responsible. Police do not believe the bomb threat is directly related to the threats received via text message. A full investigation is underway for each incident.

On Dec. 10, 2010, the high school was evacuated due to a bomb threat. After an exhaustive search of the campus, nothing was found and no injuries were reported.

NBC 5's Ray Villeda contributed to this report.

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