Agoura High is locked down due to probable swatting incident

MICHAEL COONS/Acorn Newspapers
Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department officers at Agoura High School on August 15.

School doesn't start until next week and Agoura High School is already in lockdown.

Late in the morning of August 15, students and staff on campus for registration and other activities were told to remain in place while police investigated a telephone bomb threat.

Officers with the Lost Hills Sheriff's Station searched the campus and found no evidence of any actual danger. Lt. Adam Zeko said it was likely a case of swatting, the increasingly common and illegal prank in which a false report of a crime is made to provoke a response from law enforcement.

At approximately 10:55 a.m., the LA County Sheriff's Department received a call from someone claiming to be on the Agoura campus with an explosive device and an assault rifle. The caller said he intended to shoot.

Multiple LASD and Los Angeles County Fire Department emergency vehicles responded to the threat. Officials closed the streets surrounding the school while a helicopter circled overhead.

Some concerned parents stood near the site and communicated via cell phone with their children who were on campus.

Agoura resident Hannah Spratt received a text about the curfew around 11:15 a.m. from her daughter, a senior who participates in the school's sports medicine program. Spratt was standing on Thousand Oaks Boulevard and watching officers direct traffic away from Argos Street.

“I'm not emotionally prepared for this year to begin,” Spratt said, “how crazy people are, whether it's a joke or not.” She recalled how a similar false threat led to a lockdown at Agoura High School in November 2023.

Spratt soon received a message from Principal Garrett Lepisto to parents informing them that officers had secured the campus and remained on site to ensure safety. The all-clear was officially given just before 1 p.m.

Classes begin August 21 in Agoura and other Las Virgenes Unified School District campuses.