Report of shooting at New Prague Middle School turns out to be unfounded [UPDATES]

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New Prague Middle School

-- Updates at bottom of post --

Reports are circulating this morning about a possible school shooting at the New Prague Middle School.

UPDATE: New Prague Middle School evacuated again following bomb threat

Details remain scant but WCCO reports that "an ambulance staging area was being set up" and that the school "has been put on 'code red.'"

From KARE:

School district tells @kare11 the New Prague Middle School is in a lockdown situation. More updates to follow

-- KARE 11 (@kare11) March 20, 2013

We'll update this post as more information becomes available.

:::: UPDATES :::::

Fox 9 reports that "Police [are] going through the school."

New Prague middle school on lockdown. Police are searching rooms. Prompted by phone call to police. No details on what kind of threat it was

-- Kelsey Soby (@KelseySoby) March 20, 2013

There gotta be at least 35 or more cops surrounding the New Prague middle school! If anyone knows what's goin on, let me know!!!! #praying

More from WCCO (link above):

An official with the school district said that the middle school and the CEC Building, which houses sixth graders, have been put on "code red."

KSTP reports a school officials says "the students are safe."

From the Star Tribune:

Authorities in New Prague are responding Wednesday morning to a 911 call concerning an "active shooter" at the middle school.

"We are in the process of trying to clear all the schools at this time," said Scott County Sheriff Kevin Studnicka. "We have not come across any injuries at this time."

From the Pioneer Press:

Police are searching and clearing rooms, and authorities are moving the children out of locked classrooms, according to local law enforcement scanner traffic.

New Prague, in Le Sueur and Scott counties, is about 20 miles south of Shakopee and 20 miles west of Northfield.

Police in New Prague are expanding the perimeter around the school to a full block in each direction, closing CR 37 to manage lockdown scene

-- Joseph Lindberg (@JosephLindberg) March 20, 2013

A source who has been listening to the Scott County police scanner tells City Pages no actual shooting or injuries have been reported since 8 a.m.

A WCCO news director quotes a middle school official as saying "students safe, no one hurt, no shooting."

Dozens of squad cars outside #NewPrague Middle School. twitter.com/BryanPiatt/sta...

-- Bryan Piatt (@BryanPiatt) March 20, 2013

We are listening to the Scott County police scanner, and it certainly doesn't sound as though New Prague-area law enforcement is worried about an actual school shooting. We'll keep updating as more information about the threat that was reported this morning emerges.

From MPR: "Police dept dispatcher said police responded to a 'weapons' call."

Worth mentioning, New Prague H.S. was evacuated last month because of a bomb threat.

-- Al Strain (@OPPalstrain) March 20, 2013

New Prague Middle School students safe, but police are still going through the building and the school remains under a code red lockdown.

-- MPR News (@MPRnews) March 20, 2013

From a young New Prague resident:

I highly recommend New Prague schools if you like getting out of class for bomb threats and gun threats

-- ☹ elisa ☹(@ElisaJohnson2) March 20, 2013

A police dispatcher in New Prague told officers just before 8 a.m. this morning about "a report of a person in the school with an AK-47. Two people are injured." Audio of the scanner clip was uploaded by Minnesota Police Clips, and you can listen to the audio here.

The dispatcher's report now appears to be erroneous.

More from the original scanner report:

DISPATCHER: The caller initially said he was at the New Prague Middle School. When confirming the address, he said he was actually across the street at the CEC. And we are not getting an answer when attempting to call into the CEC.

OFFICER: [garbled] You're unable to ring the phone?

DISPATCHER: No we are not. It's a 911 deactivated cell phone... [caller] stated he did not have a callback number.

As could be inferred from the scanner transcript, KARE is now reporting that original 911 call "appears to be a hoax."

According to Police Clips, New Prague Middle School has been completed cleared and students will be sent home for the day around 10:30 this morning.

Late this morning, authorities held a news conference to discuss this morning's threat. Officers said they have taken a 12-year-old male student believed to be responsible for the hoax 911 call into custody. The suspect is a student at New Prague's Central Education Campus, where it was initially reported that an AK-toting gunman had injured two students and was on the loose. Police said the student dialed from a deactivated cell phone only capable of calling 911.

Authorities said their investigation is ongoing. We'll keep you abreast of the interesting developments.