Students Evacuated, Rooms Searched After 'Cruel Prank' Leads To Shooting Scare In School

Panic and fear spread through a high school in Daytona Beach, Florida, after a group of students played a prank that prompted a shooting scare.

The false alarm led to students and staff being evacuated onto the front lawn as multiple officers responded to the shooting threat, officials said Sunday.

The series of events unfolded Thursday morning at the Mainland High School after a shooting threat was discovered in a bathroom stall, News 6 WKMG reported.

The Daytona Beach Police Department conducted a "thorough investigation" and determined that there was no threat, according to a statement posted Sunday on Facebook.

Officers once again arrived at the school Friday after two groups of students played a "cruel prank" that had the school officials convinced that there was an armed individual on campus.

"Two groups of students in the Mainland Cafeteria decided to capitalize on the threat from the day before (bathroom stall) and appear to collaborate with each other to create a panic," the department said.

Footage captured the students getting into specific positions in the cafeteria and "timing" their actions, the statement said.

A group of girls was captured laughing and smiling together as they walked toward a school administrator. One of the girls then told the administrator about someone in the school having a gun.

A boy, positioned near the exit of the cafeteria, waited until the girl mentioned the gun to the school administrator before running out of the building. A large crowd followed suit and ran outside.

"Video of these individuals prior to and during the incident shows that neither the male nor the female students observed a gun or flinched as you would expect when shots had just been fired," the police said. "At no time in the video, does anyone stand on a table and present a gun, or fire shots as some people have posted."

Daytona Beach Police Chief Jakari Young spoke at a news conference after the school was searched and no threat was found. Young said a staff member at the school rang the panic alarm after a student made a run for it following a "statement in reference to a gun."

"Once they heard gun, they hit the panic alarm and every available unit responded to Mainland High School," Young said, according to News 6 WKMG.

Responding officers searched each room of every building in the school before finally giving an all-clear. While no injuries were reported in the incident, multiple students suffered seizures, WESH 2 News reported.

Students involved in the prank will face charges "for making a false report concerning the use of firearms in a violent manner against a person or persons, a 2nd degree felony," the police department said. They also face the possibility of being expelled from the school.