Hopewell and New Castle high schools were among many Pennsylvania schools targeted by fake active shooter “swatting” calls Wednesday morning.

Hopewell placed all staff and students on lockdown around 10:30 a.m. Wednesday as law enforcement responded to reports of an active shooter at the scene. Police were seen inside and outside the school. Those reports were found to be false, with multiple other Pennsylvania schools reporting similar unfounded threats.

Hopewell Area School District Superintendent Jeff Beltz said the call was sent to Aliquippa Police by someone claiming to be a victim “locked down in a bathroom” at the school. The school was searched and cleared, and “it has been determined that there are no victims and no incident had occurred,” he said.

As of 12:30 p.m. Wednesday, Hopewell High students were moved to Hopewell Shopping Center to be bused home following an early dismissal. The schools were still on lockdown.

New Castle City Police Department received a call from a “male threatening to shoot up New Castle High School” around the same time Hopewell responded to the threats, but upon further investigation found many other schools received fake threats involving active shooters or potential bombs. New Castle High was immediately put on lockdown following the threats, with police officers clearing the school within minutes, officers said.

“Swatting” is a term used to describe false reports made to law enforcement to elicit heavy police response to stir chaos. Often, those who facilitate swatting hoaxes use technology to make it appear as if the call is coming from a victim’s phone.

Beaver County District Attorney David Lozier said Hopewell was the only district in the county to receive the call reporting an “active shooter with six casualties” in the building. The call was made around 10:20 a.m., Lozier said, and SWAT and local police responded “very fast.”

“Within 15 minutes, it was pretty clear there were no reports of an actual event or casualties,” Lozier said.

New Castle’s lockdown has since been lifted.

“As a precaution, we will maintain a high police presence at our schools,” New Castle Police Department officials said. “We will continue working with our state and federal partners to investigate the origin of these calls.”

Beaver County residents scrambled for information after hearing reports of an “active shooter” and “six potentially wounded” on police scanners Wednesday morning, frantically calling family members inside the building. On Facebook, people urged one another to “check on your loved ones.”

Nearby school districts, including Rochester, Aliquippa, Blackhawk, Ambridge and Riverside went on lockdown as police investigated the threats at Hopewell.

Central Catholic High School and Oakland Catholic in Pittsburgh were also targeted by the “computer-generated swatting calls,” according to Allegheny County Emergency Services. Allegheny County received calls reporting an active shooter in three separate schools. Farrell Area School District in Mercer County was also targeted.

This is a developing story.

This article originally appeared on Beaver County Times: Hopewell, New Castle among school districts targeted by wave of fake ‘swatting’ calls