Long Beach police rushed to Stephens Middle School in West Long Beach Wednesday afternoon after a child called 911 to say a person had a gun on the playground — a report that turned out to be false.

Police treated the threat seriously, rushing to the school and calling in a helicopter to help them scour the schoolyard where many students were outside at around 1:30 p.m. Officers hurried to find the student the caller falsely reported was involved and the teacher the student was supposedly with.

A Long Beach Police Department spokesperson said officers quickly determined the call was “non-credible,” and they began looking for the person who called 911.

“Officers determined three juvenile subjects placed the call,” the spokesperson said. “They were briefly contacted and subsequently released back to school administration staff.”

Stephens did not have to be placed on lockdown, and students remained safe, according to Long Beach Unified School District Spokesperson Elvia Cano.

Long Beach and other school districts have recently dealt with a wave of unfounded threats. Last week, the LBUSD said it was among the districts affected by social media threats “circulating nationwide.”

The district has asked for parents’ help making sure students understand the seriousness of their actions in cases like this, Cano said.

The district takes all potential threats seriously, she said.

“If you see something, say something,” the LBUSD said in a statement last week. “Your partnership and support are essential to keeping our school community safe, and we thank you for your cooperation.”

Police did not disclose the age of the students suspected of making the 911 call. Police also did not say whether they attend Stephens or describe their motivation for making the call.

 

Jeremiah Dobruck is executive editor of the Long Beach Post where he oversees all day-to-day newsroom operations. In his time working as a journalist in Long Beach, he’s won numerous awards for his investigative reporting and editing. Before coming to the Post in 2018, he wrote for publications including the Press-Telegram, Orange County Register and Los Angeles Times. Reach him at [email protected] or @jeremiahdobruck on Twitter.