A Fort Worth elementary school was deemed 'safe' after suspicious phone call

Waverly Park Elementary in southwest Fort Worth has been deemed safe after a suspicious call was made to the school Thursday afternoon.

A preliminary investigation by police revealed that a former student at Waverly Park who now attends school in White Settlement was behind the threatening call. White Settlement ISD police are investigating the incident, a Fort Worth police spokesman said.

Fort Worth police and the school district police are working in conjunction investigating the matter, according to White Settlement ISD spokeswoman Desiree Coyle.

"The student will be disciplined once the investigation is completed," she said.

Waverly Park was placed on lockdown just before 1 p.m. and then put in "shelter-in-place" mode after the threat, the Fort Worth school district said.

After investigating, Fort Worth police began safely escorting students out of the building about 2:15 p.m.

School officials reported that they received a call about 12:30 p.m. from a person they believed to be an adult female saying, "Evacuate the building in 5 minutes or they are all going to die," police said.

Fort Worth school district spokesman Clint Bond said that out of an abundance of caution the school district decided to put the school on lockdown. Shortly afterward, the school was put into "shelter-in-place" mode, meaning students were confined to their classrooms.

"This came at the recommendation of police. Just to make sure no one is in the hallways while they are investigating," he said. "At this time we believe it was a fake call and police think so as well but they have to investigate to be sure."

Bond said the school district posted information to their social media accounts and sent out voicemails and emails to parents after the threat was made.

Fort Worth police did not evacuate students initially and parents were asked to wait for them at the Western Hills Community Church at 8500 Chapin Road.

This story was originally published May 24, 2018 at 1:36 PM with the headline "A Fort Worth elementary school was deemed 'safe' after suspicious phone call."