Ogden High students thank police for response to false report of shooter
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- Ogden High School and Ogden School District students and staff offered thanks on Wednesday, April 13, 2023, to the police and others who responded to the false report of a shooter at the school on March 29, 2023. First responders are seen here walking the hallways of the schools as students cheer and applaud.
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- Ogden High School and Ogden School District students and staff offered thanks on Wednesday, April 13, 2023, to the police and others who responded to the false report of a shooter at the school on March 29, 2023. Ogden School District Superintendent Luke Rasmussen is pictured in a school hallway.
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- Ogden High School and Ogden School District students and staff offered thanks on Wednesday, April 13, 2023, to the police and others who responded to the false report of a shooter at the school on March 29, 2023. In this photo, Ogden Mayor Mike Caldwell addresses students at the event.
OGDEN — Ogden High School and Ogden School District students and officials offered a big thanks on Thursday to the police, firefighters and others who responded to the false report of a shooter at the school on March 29.
According to photos and video provided by the district, Ogden police, firefighters and others walked through the hallways of Ogden High as students, teachers and others cheered, clapped and thanked them. The event was not open to the broader public.
“I’ll tell you, I wasn’t expecting this and I wasn’t expecting to get emotional here with the student body,” Capt. Tim Scott of the Ogden Police Department said in a video interview provided by the school district. “Just the response — it was incredible.”
Ogden High and 12 other Utah schools were targeted on March 29 by false reports of violence. The anonymous caller in each instance offered up a similar fake storyline, according to a Utah Department of Public Safety official — an active shooter was said to be inside the school and claimed people were injured.
In response, Ogden police, firefighters and representatives from numerous other agencies quickly responded, scouring the school — put on lockdown — and quickly determining the report was false. Students and staff hunkered in classrooms until they received the all clear.
Meantime, McKay-Dee Hospital and Ogden Regional Medical Center medical personnel had braced to treat victims, though the assistance wasn’t ultimately needed.
Alen Solis, a high school junior, remembered the quick response of officers. “It was phenomenal how fast they got here,” he said in a video provided by Ogden School District.
Adam Wilson, a senior, said some who were at the school that day have been getting trauma counseling to help them in the aftermath of the event. Even so, he said students were in good hands with the protection of the Ogden officers and other responders.
“I just know that those cops and those first responders, they deserve (a) thank you for how quickly they came to the school,” he said.
Scott said Ogden police will learn from the incident. Officers have carried out training at Ogden High School to prepare them for the possibility of some sort of school attack, but when students weren’t around.
“This response, as horrible as it was, and the hoax, as horrible as it was and it affected so many people, is something we’re going to learn from and we’re going to benefit from this,” he said.