‘Cruel hoax’ calls of ‘active’ shooters at Georgia schools lead FBI to hunt for culprits

Federal law enforcement officials on Wednesday were investigating an apparent series of hoax calls to police agencies across Georgia claiming there were “active shooters” at schools.

Some of the first of possibly a dozen or more such calls were made early in the day to schools in southeastern Georgia. Schools along the coast from Brunswick to Savannah were placed on lockdown status.

It was not immediately known whether the same person placed all the calls or whether some were made by copycats in the aftermath of the initial claims of bloodshed, which stirred fears and fueled rumors on social media.

Sometime around 10 a.m. officials said one caller falsely told Bibb County’s 911 center there was a shooter at Westside High School on Heath Road in Macon. A similar bogus claim was made by a caller to Milledgeville police saying there was a gunman at Baldwin County High.

In a statement, Gov. Brian Kemp described the calls as “a cruel hoax” and said the FBI was “actively investigating these acts of domestic terrorism.”