Pre-recorded voice messages to 9-1-1 on Feb. 15 reporting an active shooting event at Sequim and Port Angeles schools were determined to be a hoax, according to Sequim School District officials.

Both school district offices received the messages, Sequim schools superintendent Regan Nickels said in an email to parents and guardians at about 11:15 a.m. Wednesday.

“The caller claimed that there was an active shooting happening at Sequim High School,” Nickels wrote. “A second call then identified as a Port Angeles teacher and claimed that there was a shooting happening on Port Angeles school grounds. Sequim School District and Port Angeles School District were notified immediately.”

The calls came in about 10 minutes apart with the first call coming in at 8:50 a.m. to the Sequim Police Department, and the second around 9 a.m. to Port Angeles police.

Immediately after the calls were received, Nickels said, administration and local law enforcement walked the high school campus to confirm that there was no threat of violence.

“We had already received the same information from Sequim High School, so I contacted PAHS right away and officers were on the scene very shortly after, but we did not initiate a lockdown at that time,” said Jackson Vandusen, Port Angeles’ school resource officer.

An investigation was continuing last week into where the calls came from and who perpetrated them.

“We have not learned at this time who it was,” Vandusen said on Feb. 15.

Nickels said the incident was quickly identified as a hoax call known as “swatting” — a criminal act in which emergency services are called to a location under false pretenses of an extreme emergency. Swatting is a harassment tactic and a felony in Washington state.

Nickels offered a web link for more information about the type of hoax (smartsocial.com/post/swatting).

Normal school activities in Sequim would continue throughout the day, Nickels said, and the School Resource Officer (SRO) would be on the Sequim High School campus all day.

Nickels said school staff will follow guidance from both Sequim and Port Angeles police departments.

“If more information becomes available, we will provide updates,” she said.

“Our primary concern is always for the safety of our students and staff, and we appreciate the partnership of local law enforcement in ensuring that our schools are a safe space for all to learn.”