MSD enters lockdown due to false reports of shooting and kidnapping
Isabelly Silveria
Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School entered a lockdown after reports of a shooting and kidnapping in the Coral Springs area. The reports were later found to be false after being investigated by the Broward Sheriff’s Office and Coral Springs Police Department. MSD was placed in a code yellow as a precaution to protect students and staff.
On Wednesday, April 21, Coral Springs residents were woken up by the sounds of Broward Sheriff Office squad cars and helicopters. Two separate reports of a shooting and a kidnapping plunged the area into a panic. The police were searching as early as 5:30 a.m. according to some reports on the community social networking app Nextdoor.
The chaos was first triggered by a report of a man claiming he had been shot. The report was deemed false, as the man had accidentally shot himself in the leg. He then lied to the police about the incident.
A few minutes later, a girl called 911, claiming that she had been abducted at gunpoint and then forced into her sister’s car. This report was also proven to be false. In reality, the girl had stolen her sister’s car and fabricated the story to cover her tracks.
The two incidents occurred a mere quarter-mile from one another according to the SunSentinel. BSO used the app SaferWatch to keep citizens informed of areas to avoid, posting two emergency alerts while the events were unfolding.
As a precaution during the initial chaos of the police hunts, several schools were ordered into a lockdown, including Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, which was the last school to enter lockdown.
“When my dad was driving me to school, we saw the police cars all over the place,” freshman Jake Steil said. “The police were blocking off roads and then Douglas was in a code yellow.”
MSD principal Michelle Kefford sent out an automated message to all parents of MSD students to inform of the situation and how the school was keeping students and staff safe.
“There was an incident in Coral Springs this morning, involving an armed suspect,” Kefford said in her April 21 call. “The Coral Springs Police Department is currently in pursuit of the suspect. Although the incident did not occur in Parkland, we are, as a precaution, placing our school on a code yellow while we wait for the situation to be resolved.”
All schools returned to their normal operations when the authorities released that both reports had been false and there was no danger to schools or their students and staff.
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Ava Steil is a senior at MSD and the Editor-in-Chief of the Eagle Eye. She will be attending the University of Central Florida in the summer, majoring...
