Madison Park, O'Bryant placed in 'safe' mode after hoax gun call

Madison Park High School and the O'Bryant School, which are next to each other on Malcolm X Boulevard in Roxbury, went into "safe" mode Friday afternoon because of what school officials say was a swatting: Somebody called Boston Police to report somebody was on the grounds of one of the schools with a gun, only when police arrived, they determined it was a hoax.

The swatting came just two days after police arrested a student at the Snowden School on Newbury Street on charges he came to school with a gun loaded with ten rounds in a backpack.

Patreka Wood, head of school at the O'Bryant and Sidney Brown, her counterpart at Madison Park, e-mailed parents today:

Dear Madison Park and O’Bryant School Communities,

Yesterday afternoon, you received a communication alerting you to the fact that the Madison Park/O’Bryant campus was placed in “Safe Mode.” We wanted to provide you with an update to provide more information and context for what happened.

The Boston Police Department received a call that there was an individual with a firearm on school grounds. All safety protocols were followed in response to that report.

Upon further investigation, we learned that the report to BPD was a hoax and there was no credible threat on or around school grounds.

We are grateful to Madison and O’Bryant school leadership and staff for their action and to the BPD for their urgent response.

We take all matters of public safety seriously. We will provide any further and relevant updates to the community, if necessary.