Bemidji High School one of many targets in nationwide “swatting” hoax yesterday

Bemidji High School was the target of a “swatting” hoax yesterday morning.

“Swatting” is a relatively new term used to describe those who seek to illicit a large law enforcement response through serious threats, with the intent to raise fear and alarm.

No students were present due to it being a Staff Development Day, but school staff was present in the building for training.

Law enforcement officials quickly responded around 10 a.m. and locked down the building, and later confirmed that it was a hoax.

The number and voice used in the call were identical to other swatting calls across the state and country.


Larissa Donovan was the News Director for the stations of Paul Bunyan Broadcasting and has been, almost without interruption, since Election Day 2016, through July 2023. She covered all the beats in north-central Minnesota, such as local government, crime, education, environment and social issues. She studied communications at Bemidji State University. You can follow along with Larissa's live tweets of meetings and events on Twitter!


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