Police Declare All-Clear After Threat to Signature School

WNIN | By John Gibson

Published October 2, 2026 at 12:07 PM CDT

An unidentified officer is armed with an automatic weapon outside Signature School after an apparent false report of someone with a gun inside the downtown school, Oct. 2, 2026

Dispatchers received a call about someone with a gun inside Evansville's Signature School; students were evacuated and nothing was found

There were some tense moments in Downtown Evansville Friday when authorities received a call from someone claiming they had a gun inside Signature School. WNIN’s John Gibson has details:

The call came in just before 9:00 a.m., and police and paramedics responded quickly to the complex that includes the school, the Victory Theatre, and other buildings.

The Evansville Police Department’s Taylor Merriss told WNIN News what dispatchers were told:

Numerous police vehicles parked on Sycamore St. behind the Victory Theatre investigating a threat to Signature School, Oct. 2, 2026

"Someone said that they were inside of the school in a bathroom and they were going to shoot up the building, yes. No shots have been fired have been fired by anyone in the building, none of our officers, no one has been injured."

I asked Merriss if it may have been a false call, or swatting:

"You know those do happen, and I don't want to make that call just this moment. As I said, we're still doing a secondary search but it does seem maybe that could be the case. We haven't found anything out of the ordinary."

All Sig School students were evacuated and all were reported safe.

Merriss says the quick law enforcement response included officers who fled from their desks at the nearby Civic Center.

Evansville Police vehicles parked on Main St. investigating an apparent false report of a threat to Signature School, Oct. 2, 2026