Update-Threat in Ganado causes lockdown

By Michael Brooks

Staff Writer

    At approximately 8:45 a.m. on Thursday August 11, Jackson County dispatch received a call from the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary Catholic Church in Ganado. The caller relayed to dispatch that a man called in, saying he was outside the church with a gun.

    Law enforcement from every branch responded rapidly as the location of the church is two blocks from the Ganado Secondary School. To add even more concern, the Maidens volleyball team was hosting a tournament that began the same morning.

    The Ganado schools were put on lockdown while deputies, state trooper, police officers, and constables searched the schools and other officers handled the situation at the church.

    Although there was no threat, as an extra precaution, the Edna Police Department sent extra officers to the Edna schools.

    At approximately 9:40 the lockdown at the school was lifted in Ganado, however, several officers remained to ensure safety at the schools.

    “The call originated out of the phone exchange in the Garland area, the 469 area code,” Jackson County Sheriff Kelly Janica said at 2:30 p.m. on Thursday. “We are pinging the phone right now and it is coming back as somewhere north of Houston. So it not anything local that we know of.”

    Janica added this is a Ganado PD case, and the sheriff’s office is assisting them. As of now, they have found out who the phone carrier is and are working on getting a name.

    “If we can find some way to identify, we will charge them,” Janica stated. “But that is the 64 dollar question right now.”

    Janica also explained the caller had called several other churches in Ganado this morning, and the Assumption Church just happened to be the church who answered the call.

    Janica also wanted to reiterate the school was never in danger.  “Due to the proximity, we called the lockdown,” he said.

    Not that any school ever wants to go through a situation like this, but Janica did say the students and teacher performed the lockdown drill perfectly, exactly as they had learned.

    “I was surprised how much they retained,” Janica said. “Especially with it being the second day of school.”

    The volleyball tournament was able to pick back up, with the scheduled game running about an hour behind.

    We will continue to update as more information becomes available.