DougCo Sheriff investigates bomb threat causing Parker high school evacuation

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Heather Willard / NewsBreak Denver / May 1, 2023

(Parker, Colo.) The Douglas County Sheriff’s Office responded to Chaparral High School in Parker at about 11:30 a.m. Friday, after the school received a call warning of a bomb inside the school.

School administration evacuated students and staff and enacted an early dismissal of 1:15 p.m.. Students were allowed to return for their personal belongings between 3-4 p.m. after the Douglas County Sheriff’s Office deputies and Arapahoe County Sheriff’s Office K9s searched the school and found no suspicious devices.

Deputies are investigating who made the call and false reporting charges are possible, said Douglas County Sheriff’s Office Public Information Officer Deborah Takahara. Sheriff Darren Weekly said false reports cause strain on emergency service agencies.

“We take all threats to our schools very seriously,” Weekly said. “It takes tremendous resources to respond and ensure the safety of everyone in the school. These threats create fear and disrupt the educational environment, and we must send a clear message that such behavior will not be tolerated.”

School security in Chaparral High includes a full-time school resource officer employed by the Douglas County Sheriff’s Office.

Chaparral High School and all Colorado Schools use Safe2Tell as an anonymous way for anyone to send tips. According to the Safe2Tell 2021-2022 school year report there were 22 reports of explosives statewide in the past school year. Another 273 reports were about a planned school attack, and 336 reports regarded students with guns at school.

Most Safe2Tell reports are valid, with 2.4% of the 2,365 reports received statewide through the program found to be fake. Throughout the 2021-2022 school year, 2% of the 19,364 reports received were found to be false, according to Safe2Tell’s annual report.

In February, a wave of false reports of attacks in schools across Colorado sent swarms of first responders to campuses. Some calls were reported to include fake gunfire, screaming and other chaotic background sounds. However, similar threats were made to Denver schools during the last week of February, and none resulted in lockdowns due to their similarity to the earlier fake calls.