Edison High School shooting hoax on social media creates fear

FRESNO, Calif. (KFSN) -- There were no visible problems on the Edison High Campus, except for the traffic tie ups caused by worried parents coming to pick up their children. 9th grade student Uriel Gaytan was among those leaving early because of the threat.

Uriel said, "They posted on Facebook they were going to come and shoot up the school and all my friends were worried too some they don't want to stay in school so they called their parents, I called my parents as well because I am pretty concerned."

His older brother, Reuben came to fetch him, out of a real concern for his safety.

Reuben said, "My brother texted me that he was pretty scared and worried that they might come and shoot the school and as soon as we received the text I told my parents and we came and picked him up."

A concerned father told Action News he came by after seeing the online post himself.

"I came down here because I was on Facebook and I saw a message Central High and Edison there was a shooting," Lamar Chisholm said. "My son plays football for Edison so I wanted to come and check and make sure my son is okay. And I came talked to the principal everybody, everything is good."

Fresno Police determined the threat was not real but Lt. Joe Gomez told Action News did not ignore it.

Lt. Joe Gomez said, "Everything we received completely unsubstantiated, we have taken precautions here there are extra patrols here MAGEC is out and about here our violent impact teams are out here."

The school district usually maintains tight control about what happens on campus, but with texting and social media, they can't stop false but alarming information from getting out and creating fear.

Uriel Gaytan told us he was afraid of being shot. He explained, "They could just shoot up the doors and the bullets will go through and open the doors."

There were no shots fired, no bullets, but according to Fresno Unified School District, 300 students were absent from Edison High School on Wednesday. The district issued a statement saying security has been tightened at the campus and they are urging all students to return to school on Thursday.