As Granby Elementary and Junior High students were awaiting counting down to their Christmas break, a 911 call prompted a lockdown situation.
“Our officers received a report in reference to a possible armed intruder on the Granby campus,” Granby Police Chief Scott Whitman said. “Granby police, as well as the Newton County Sheriff’s Department and Missouri Highway Patrol and other officers, responded to the location. The school was put on a lockdown, the kids were held a longer period of time than they were to be dismissed at.”
The call came in at 3:09 p.m. Friday, just minutes before the students were to be released from school.
“We did a security sweep of the entire school, a very detailed sweep, and we were unable to locate anything,” said Whitman. “The kids were dismissed without any further incident.”
According to East Newton Superintendent Tanya Vest, the school did a follow up call to all of the Granby parents.
“It was confirmed, the dispatch received a phone call, it turned out that the phone call was from a phone number in Arkansas and it said that someone walked into Granby school and started shooting,” Newton County Sheriff Ken Copeland said. “There was a Granby police officer practically at the school when the call came in. He immediately went inside, we then had officers there. The call was totally bogus.”
