Boise worker accidentally sends false school shooting alert

Roughly 1,000 city of Boise employees received a false text alert notifying them of a non-existent active shooter at a local elementary school on Thursday.

Mike Journee, a spokesman for Mayor Dave Bieter, said an employee at a city-operated community center at Hawthorne Elementary accidentally sent the false alert around 8:50 a.m. using a new mobile application.

Boise School District Public Affairs Administrator Dan Hollar said the school was able to catch the mistake around the same time.

Journee said a correction text and email was sent out about five minutes later, and apologized to students and parents for any distress caused by the false alarm.

Journee said the city is looking into ways to prevent any similar mistakes in the future. The Boise School District has a separate emergency text messaging system it uses to notify parents in cases of emergencies.