Active shooter drills are common in American schools, not evidence of false flag attack

Active shooter drills are pervasive in American schools.

Although there is growing concern that active shooter drills increase students’ anxiety, school shootings like the one at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, often prompt calls for more active shooter drills. 

Many states, including Texas, require schools to run active shooter drills. About 95% of American public schools conduct lockdown drills, according to U.S. Education Department data. 

Despite this, some social media users claim that the Uvalde Consolidated Independent School District’s active shooter trainings somehow prove that the elementary school shooting was a "false flag" attack.

"So let me get this straight," said a man in a TikTok video also posted to Instagram on May 26. "They conducted an active shooter drill at the high school in the same town two months prior, and then magically, they had a shooting at the elementary school."

The video featured eerie background music and a New York Post article with the headline, "Chilling images show students at Salvador Ramos’ HS pretending to be dead during active-shooter drill." 

Authorities have said that 18-year-old Ramos killed at least 19 students and two teachers at the elementary school on May 24. A law enforcement officer killed Ramos at the scene. Authorities are still investigating the shooting.

The post containing the video was flagged as part of Facebook’s efforts to combat false news and misinformation on its News Feed. (Read more about our partnership with Facebook.)

Taken in its totality, the video suggests that an active shooter drill at Uvalde High School in March is evidence that the elementary school shooting was a "false flag" attack. That’s a baseless claim.

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stated on October 26, 2024 in a Threads post

Four Florida counties had “zero results” Oct. 26, and “something underhanded might be happening.”

The term "false flag" refers to harmful actions that are designed to look as if they were perpetrated by one person or group, but were committed by someone else. Unfounded claims often circulate after mass shootings suggesting that the attacks were "false flags" devised by the government in an effort to enact gun control laws.

In March, the school district’s police department said the goal of an active shooter training at the high school that month was "to train every Uvalde area law enforcement officer so that we can prepare as best as possible for any situation that may arise."

The man in the TikTok video also said a police officer who was part of the training was married to one of the teachers killed. That is true, but not indicative of a "false flag" operation.

Uvalde is home to about 15,000 people.

"Everyone knows everybody," Uvalde resident Tim Wiginton told Canada’s CBC on May 26. "So whether you were directly impacted (by the school shooting) or you know someone who was there, whose kids were there, first responders who responded — everyone knows someone that was connected with it."

A video shared on Instagram claimed an active shooter drill at Uvalde High School two months before the Robb Elementary School shooting shows the event was a "false flag."

This is not true. Active shooter trainings are common in schools across America. The fact that an active shooter training was held at Uvalde High School two months before the elementary school shooting does not mean that the death of 19 students and two teachers was a "false flag" attack.

We rate this claim Pants on Fire.

RELATED: Fact-checking misinformation about the Uvalde school shooting