Fort Bragg Shooter Hoax Call Update

In an interview with Councilmember Lindy Peters, posted on Mendocino Coast Media, Fort Bragg Police Chief Neil Cervenka provided new details about what happened during the hoax call incident on Monday, April 3, directed at Fort Bragg High School, and what law enforcement now knows.

Chief Cervenka described the caller as someone with a heavy foreign accent, uncommon in this geographical area. The caller gave specific details to the dispatcher about the classroom where he was hiding and another room number where four students had been shot.

Two officers arrived to provide the initial response but did not locate any shooting. To be thorough, one officer went to another Fort Bragg school to check room numbers. Due to the caller’s heavy accent, a modified version of the call that gave more clarity to the caller’s words confirmed the location of the shooting at Fort Bragg High School.

Since Fort Bragg and Ukiah police departments share the same dispatch system, the call-out on police scanners alerted multiple law enforcement agencies to send reinforcement, including ambulances by ground and by air.

While the response effort at the school was ongoing, Ukiah Police dispatch received a similar call regarding Ukiah High School and recognized the caller’s voice. At about the same time. Willits Police Department received a call as well in reference to Willits High School.

Chief Cervenka noted that the Fort Bragg schools offices and the police department office were flooded with calls spreading through the community based upon misinterpreted information from the police scanner. Police officers at the school site were also inundated with calls on their personal devices. All calls, in general, were not answered.

“This critical event demanded our full attention,” noted Chief Cervenka. He added that the officers “had a job to do, and that job was to make sure everyone was safe. They did that without question.”

Chief Cervenka also advised the community that information on police scanners does not portray the real situation. “It’s not fact unless we’re saying it,” he stressed.

The Fort Bragg Fire Department secured Dana Street and blocked the public from coming onto the school site until police declared it safe. Chief Cervenka commended parents on the scene for following law enforcement directions.

He pointed out that some police officers on the scene were emotionally stressed as well about their own children on campus.

At this time, Chief Cervenka confirmed that his department is working with a federal agency that may have tentatively identified the hoax caller as “someone from another country that does not have extradition rights with the United States.” As a result, law enforcement cannot pursue the case.

“In my opinion,” said Chief Cervenka, “this was an act of terrorism on the United States because the definition of terrorism is causing terror and panic.” He stated that other calls across the country had occurred as well in the city of San Rafael, in the city of Monrovia last year, and in Nevada and Wyoming this past Tuesday.

Considering the outcome, Chief Cervenka acknowledged, “The police department is not perfect. We made mistakes in this. We found a lot of ways we could do things better or more efficiently.”

He added that he would be meeting with Joseph Aldridge, the Superintendent of Fort Bragg Unified School District, to adjust plans for active shooter protocols and procedures that they have been working on for the past eight months.

The interview concluded with a “sincere thanks to the community” from Chief Cervenka, who acknowledged the difficulty for parents when they stand by and are unable to help their own children. “I know that fear. It can be very overwhelming.”

He continued, “Despite that, almost one hundred percent of the parents there respected the boundary, knew what we were trying to do, listened to our people, and stayed out of the way so we could protect their kids. In allowing us to do our job, the community was a large part of the success of this.”

(Ukiah Daily Journal)