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11/1 BREAKING NEWS: Three Dallas schools back to normal after reported threat turns out to be unfounded

DALLAS -- Three Dallas schools were temporarily put on lockdown Thursday morning after authorities received a report of a boy with a rifle walking along Southeast Miller Avenue.

November 01, 2012

DALLAS -- Three Dallas schools were temporarily put on lockdown Thursday morning after authorities received a report of a boy with a rifle walking along Southeast Miller Avenue.

A search of the area by Dallas Police and Polk County Sheriff's deputies, however, turned up no threats and schools reopened shortly afterward, Dallas Deputy Police Chief Tom Simpson said.

"Despite any rumors which may have developed during this brief period, there is no reason to believe a firearm ever made it onto any Dallas school campus, and all students were safe," Simpson said.

Dallas police received a phone call from a citizen at about 8:15 a.m. describing a teenage boy in a green coat near the intersection of Miller and Uglow avenues walking toward Dallas High and carrying a rifle in a backpack.

Dallas High, LaCreole Middle School and Whitworth Elementary were placed on lockdown as a precaution, Simpson said.

At about 9 a.m., another call was received of an individual wearing a green coat -- a female -- walking south on Mistletoe Road just south of the Dallas city limits.

The woman was reported to have had a bag that looked like a backpack with a stick protruding from it, Simpson said.

"After an extensive area check, schools were advised that the person originally described was not located anywhere in the area, nor were any other persons of suspicious nature," Simpson said. "Once there was no longer a known reason to believe there was an imminent threat, schools resumed normal operations."