St. John's Prep Active Shooter Report Prompts Danvers School Lockdown

An active shooter was reported Monday at a Massachusetts prep school, and local and state police were responding at the scene.

The report came from St. John's Prep, an all-boys Catholic school for grades 6 to 12 in Danvers, roughly 20 miles north of Boston. A prompt went live on the school's website a little before 2 p.m. local time. It said that the report had emerged from the campus' Benjamin Hall, resulting in a lockdown of the school and students sheltering in place.

"There has been a report of an active shooter on campus at Benjamin Hall," the website's statement read. "Danvers and State police are on site. Students, Faculty, and Staff are sheltering in place. We will further provide updates as soon as possible."

In a later tweet, the Massachusetts State Police confirmed that officers had been dispatched to the school. Upon arrival, they found no sign of a shooter and said the situation remains unclear.

"At 1:49 PM several dozen Troopers and [Danvers Police officers] responded to St. John's Prep for [a] report of a person with a gun at the school," the tweet said. "Immediate entry made and no threats identified at this time. Teams doing secondary sweeps. We are aware of no injuries at this time. More to follow."

Newsweek reached out to the Danvers Police Department via email for comment.

In further updates, the state police said students still on the campus were being evacuated to a designated spot where their families could pick them up later. Students who fled the campus on their own were being directed to the pickup area, a Stop & Shop supermarket. As of 2:40 p.m., campus sweeps were continuing.

"Teams still conducting sweeps, still no threats detected," the state police's Twitter account said. "Students who fled school grounds on their own are being directed/shuttled to Stop and Shop, 301 Newbury St (Rt 1) Danvers. Parents can report there to be reunited with their children."

St. John's Prep has been in operation for over 115 years and has 1,500 middle and high school students enrolled.

On Monday there was another report of an active shooter, at Boston College High School. That situation was eventually identified as a false alarm. The hoax call apparently was intended to bring out police when there was no danger, according to TV station WBTS. It is not known if the two incidents are related in any way.