Ames High School received notice from several families and students of shared rumors about a threat of violence Thursday morning. 

While the claim was unsubstantiated, students were allowed to leave class with permission from a guardian and checking out through the office. Ames Police Department received a notification of potential violence from a parent around 10:40 a.m.

A shift supervisor from the police department arrived at the high school shortly after and the administration was already aware of the false information spreading via social media. The Ames Police Department then sent additional officers to be on the safe side, Ames Police Department Commander Jason Tuttle told the Daily after officers cleared the scene.  

“We are going to work with the school officials because they know better than any of us,” Tuttle said. “Our shift supervisor met with the school principal and went through the information they had. So they were able to pretty quickly determine it wasn’t credible information.” 

The high school was not on lockdown, and school did remain in session because the claims were unfounded. Students were under the impression a peer brought a gun to the school. Tuttle said the department received varying general pieces of information regarding the rumor.

“I think in this day and age we are going to do everything we can to make sure that it is a safe environment,” Tuttle said. “But unfortunately due to how social media works, this is sometimes a result of what happens when people spread information that they don’t know about.”

One student, who wished to remain anonymous, said she found out about the potential threat from her teacher and classmates around noon. 

“I just thought of Oxford immediately because it happened so recently, and it did happen in the midwest so it is pretty close,” the senior at Ames High said. 

After finding out, she called her parents because she felt unsafe at school and her teacher told her she could leave. In the office, school secretaries were constantly answering phone calls from parents to check out their students for the day. One secretary said she had 55 voicemails while already on the phone with a parent. 

“We take any type of threat very seriously, and we will do everything we can to continue to partner with schools to make sure it is a safe environment for our kids,” Tuttle said.

The Iowa State Daily is currently in communication with the Ames School District. This article will be updated as more information is made available.