Bomb and school shooting threats made Friday against Pine-Richland School District were not credible and originated in Australia, law enforcement officials said.

Northern Regional Police Chief Bryan S. DeWick said his department and the FBI classified the threats as “swatting calls.

As a precaution, district officials said, after-school and evening activities, including practices and home games, were canceled.

Away games were to continue as planned.

The threats, made specifically against the middle and high schools on the district’s sprawling campus, disrupted the school day and led to a lockdown at the facilities.

The district received the first threat just before 9 a.m. Friday.

In an email at 9:33 a.m., the district told parents not to report to the schools and said students would not be permitted to leave until the situation is clear.

According to the email, an anonymous caller, who sounded like an adult male, phoned the high school main office just before 9 a.m..

“The anonymous caller stated that a ‘bomb’ would go off in the high school parking lot in ‘five minutes,’” the email said.

A Northern Regional Police Department officer was already in the high school at the time and began an assessment.

Both the middle school on Logan Road and the high school on Warrendale Road were immediately placed in what the district called a “secure” setting. Students in outdoor classes were required to come inside.

Then the district set a “hold” requiring students and staff to remain in their classrooms and not move around in the hallways, the email said.

Bomb-sniffing dogs were brought in to clear the perimeter of the schools before moving inside and then clearing the parking lots.

About two hours after the first threat, the caller contacted the school office again, threatening an “imminent school shooting.”

According to an email sent to parents at 11:45 a.m., there were already dozens of law enforcement officers on campus when the second call was received at 11:24 a.m.

The anonymous caller spoke with a Northern Regional police officer.

“The FBI is actively supporting this matter,” the district email said. “We also have other first responders on campus.”

Swatting calls are falsely reported emergencies designed to provoke a police response.

Paula Reed Ward is a TribLive reporter covering federal and Allegheny County courts. She joined the Trib in 2020 after spending nearly 17 years at the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, where she was part of a Pulitzer Prize-winning team. She is the author of “Death by Cyanide.” She can be reached at pward@triblive.com.