On the morning of April 13, 2023, the Plano police were alerted to a suspected "swatting" case at Collin College. A similar call was reported at a college in Fort Worth, adding to a series of false emergency reports at schools across Texas.
At 10:13 a.m., Plano police tweeted that they were en route to the Collin College campus located at the 2800 block of East Spring Creek Parkway, in response to a "possible active shooter" situation, classified as a "code red." A few minutes later, police said no injuries were located, but officers continued to search all campus buildings. However, the department later verified that the call received at around 9:45 a.m. was a false report claiming that a mass shooting occurred on the school's premises.
As officers arrived at Collin College to address the situation, a Plano officer's firearm accidentally discharged. Fortunately, no injuries were reported. According to an email obtained by the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, the discharge happened on the second floor of a building. No injuries were reported and no students were nearby at the time.
The school’s Plano campus closed for the rest of the day Thursday. Local Profile reached out to the Plano Police Department, but did not receive a response prior to publishing.
On Thursday morning, Texas Wesleyan University also issued an emergency alert directing students and staff on its Fort Worth campus to take shelter and remain indoors.
“There was never an actual threat to campus,” the university said in a tweet. “We want to commend our safety and security team for taking swift action in notifying the TXWES community and responding in a timely manner.”
Hoax emergency calls were also made to other schools in Texas, including Del Mar College in Corpus Christi, Baylor University in Waco, Galen College of Nursing in San Antonio and Texas A&M University in Bryan. All of the reported incidents were confirmed to be false.
