Chief Sneed relayed that the threat was received around 2:36 p.m. by the front office in the form of an anonymous phone call, with the caller using an unspecified device to disguise their voice. With their identity hidden, the caller alleged that they were going to shoot up and bomb the school. As a result, McCallum was placed on a secure status at 2:38 p.m., preventing anyone from entering or exiting the building.

The threat escalated at 2:44 p.m. when the caller, who was still on the phone with staff, claimed to be in the neighborhood near campus and in possession of explosives. At 2:46 p.m., the caller further alleged that they had placed explosive devices around the school. This combination of shooting and bomb threats moved McCallum from a secure to a hold, with the difference being that students had to stay in classrooms and not enter the hallways for any reason.

“If [the threat] was true that there were explosives, we didn’t want students or staff moving around the campus,” Sneed said.

The complete nature of the threat–possible explosives on campus and a possibly armed shooter—prompted police to keep students in classrooms rather than evacuate the building.

A request was sent to the Texas Department of Public Safety to send bomb detection dogs to assist with a campus sweep at 2:48 p.m., and at 2:57 p.m. the Austin Police Department began setting up a perimeter surrounding the school.

The first two bomb detection dogs arrived at McCallum at 3:36 p.m. to begin searching the campus, and were later aided by a third dog. At 4:16, when the sweep was complete and the area was deemed safe, the perimeter of officers was broken down. Shortly after, at 4:21 p.m., the campus hold was lifted, and normal operations were deemed safe to resume.

Several officers remained in the area to aid with dismissal, and helped staff and students safely exit the campus. He explained that the presence of ambulances was deemed necessary even though there were no reports of injury.

“We always want to be prepared for the worst,” Sneed said. “Our partnerships with all of the agencies here are very important. [AustinISD] is a very large district, and the sooner you have medical assistance, the better, in the event that it is needed.”

All of the resources allocated towards the threat resulted in a highly visible scene, with the campus even being circled by a helicopter.

“Every situation dictates different needs for resources,” Sneed said. “If you have someone that’s allegedly coming to the campus armed, eyes in the sky are much better than eyes on the ground.”

While the investigation is still active and AISD does not know the identity of the person who made the threats, Sneed said the campus is safe.

“We feel like the protocols that we have in place in our district are sufficient to keep our kids as safe as possible,” Sneed said.

While the threat proved to be a false one Wednesday, Chief Sneed said the caller, if identified, will likely face charges for sounding a false alarm and for making a terroristic threat. Sneed said that a final determination of charges in such cases is made only after consultation with the Travis County district attorney’s office.

In a meeting with faculty after school following the incident, Principal Andy Baxa and AISD police thanked teachers for their quick response to the situation, noting that campus was secured in less than five minutes.

A police spokesman said that around 200 officers from the Austin Police Department, Department of Public Safety and Austin ISD Police Department and K9 dogs swept the campus in response to the bomb threat.

Baxa also said that the administration’s response to incidents like these is to always assume that the threat is real until proven otherwise. In this case, the incident was escalated to critical, meaning the administration turned responsibility over to police. Once police took charge, the perimeter of campus was secured within five minutes.

Compared to the social media threat this past weekend, executive director of secondary school leadership Jonathan Smith said that Wednesday’s response was more visible because of the nature of the threat.

“Depending on the threat, that determines the level of response from the campus as well as from law enforcement,” Smith said.

Baxa said that because Monday’s threat was received before the start of the school day and was directed towards an individual student and not the entire campus, the response from authorities was less visible. AISD Police said that they did not evacuate the campus because the safest place to be during an incident like this, where there is no active device, is in the classroom and not in a centralized location.

There was increased police presence on campus Thursday as well as district counselors available for students.