False Report of Active Shooter at Bishop Diego High School
On September 14, 2022, around 1:00 pm, the Santa Barbara Police Combined Communications Center received a single call about an active shooter situation at Bishop Diego High School, located at 4000 La Colina Road.
Within minutes of the 9-1-1 call, dozens of Santa Barbara Police Officers, Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Deputies, and California Highway Patrol Officers immediately responded to the school for the reported incident.
The first group of officers arrived on the scene and immediately searched for a potential active shooter. A command post was established nearby, and students started to evacuate the school at the direction of school administrators. School officials quickly conducted a student and staff headcount. They reported to law enforcement that all students and faculty were safely accounted for. A thorough search was conducted of all interior buildings and exterior portions of the property.
During the search, law enforcement observed no signs or evidence of any active shooter incident. Scene commanders determined the incident a false report and notified school officials that students could return to their classrooms.
The Santa Barbara Police Department is currently looking into the location and identity of the caller that made this false report. Currently, it is believed the caller is not a student or anyone directly associated with the high school. Detectives are contacting the FBI to assist in the investigation.
The Santa Barbara Police Department takes any situation involving our students and children in our community very seriously. Any report of an active shooter in the city will always render a very large and immediate law enforcement response. In this situation, thankfully, it was a false report. Regardless, any false report of this nature unnecessarily draws first responder resources away from those that genuinely need help. This false report will not be taken lightly and will be thoroughly investigated.
We thank our allied law enforcement and first responder agencies for assisting SBPD with this incident.