ANCHORAGE — Authorities on Wednesday were investigating threatening phone calls to at least eight schools in Alaska in the past 10 days that prompted brief campus lockdowns and students being kept in classes.
However, none of the calls resulted in attacks or violence.
The calls began on April 27 and targeted schools in Fairbanks, Juneau, Anchorage, Kenai and other communities. One call was received by an elementary school at Fort Wainwright.
Juneau-Douglas High School was called on two days, including Tuesday. A voice that sounded automated or scrambled was heard on one call saying there was a gunman on campus and many casualties, police said. In the background, sounds like gunshots could be heard.
Authorities, however, reported no problems at the campus.
Calls to other schools also featured altered voices.
The FBI was advised of the incidents by Alaska State Troopers and was determining whether the cases fell under federal jurisdiction, FBI spokeswoman Staci Feger-Pellessier said.
Troopers also said they were investigating the calls but could not provide details.
The Fort Wainwright school in the Fairbanks North Star Borough School District was called Monday, prompting a campus lockdown. Students were later bused a couple blocks to a youth center, where parents picked them up.
A school in the Anchorage School District also was called Monday but there was no lockdown.
School district spokeswoman Heidi Embley declined to identify the school but said the principal notified school employees and parents “explaining that it was a very generic phone call and that students were not in danger.”
