The “swatting” call that put South Fort Myers High School in lockdown is part of a nationwide hoax and is currently under investigation by the FBI.

A “swatting” call is a hoax emergency notification intended to initiate a large-scale police response.

“The FBI is currently investigating 31 separate situations. Thirty-one separate school systems,” Lee County School District Superintendent Dr. Christopher Bernier said during a school board meeting following the incident.

Bernier said last they checked these phone calls are originating from a foreign country and the calls are still being made.

The South Fort Myers High School incident, was not a student threat or prank, but rather a national epidemic of swatting and hoax phone calls.

On Friday, a false 911 call came in with a school address alerting law enforcement of an active shooter on South Fort Myers High School campus. The 911 calls say there is a gun on campus, which is attached to very specific information, such as a shooter is armed and students are already perishing, Bernier said.

At the same time, a call was made to a school on the east coast of Florida. Bernier said the Lee County Sheriff’s Office does not call to ask questions, or to see if it is true — they move. If there is an active shooter, time is of the essence, he said.

“Within two short minutes help was on the way,” he said, adding that the Cape Coral Police Department, Fort Myers Police Department, Collier County and Charlotte County also reached out ready to provide additional support if needed.

“That response and knowing our community is being well served and children have a police force that will respond like that is incredibly important,” he said.

The call came in at 1:04 p.m., the lockdown occurred by 1:06, 1:07 p.m. The students were placed in classrooms locked behind doors.

The Lee County Sheriff’s Office issues a statement shortly after the incident, saying “All resources were allocated and deployed to the school” and determined the call to be a hoax.

“Out of an abundance of caution, ALL schools within Lee County’s jurisdiction were searched and cleared as deputies and School Resource Officers ensured there were no threats,” Lee County Sheriff Carmine Marceno said in the statement posted to the agency’s Facebook page. “Thank you to the dedicated deputies that diverted their resources to the schools as well as the School Resource Officers. In addition, we are grateful for the Lee County School District’s cooperation and professionalism as all 67 schools in our jurisdiction were checked.”

The message Bernier provided was to make sure students are taught, “See Something. Say Something.” He said when students provide information, the source of that information will be kept private.

“If I do say something, my principal, SRO, or teacher will keep my identify under wraps and private. Once we build that it will make us safer. Our kids in our school buildings represent the communities they come from. They are coming from our neighborhoods, homes and environments. They bring all the greatness and some of our society’s ills,” Bernier said. “I am so deeply grateful for our principals taking the enormity of this task on to read into the cultures of their school buildings.”

An interagency shade, or private, meeting was scheduled for today to continue to look at all options.