Reported Hostage Situation At Tulsa Radio Station Turns Out To Be Hoax

Tulsa Police responded to a hostage scare at a radio station. Tulsa police said a call came in shortly before 7 p.m. that masked men were inside KVOO.

It was a hectic scene that saw every Tulsa police officer who was not already on an emergency call respond to what turned out to be a hoax. 30-plus Tulsa Police Officers swarmed the street with their guns drawn, after a call about a hostage situation inside KVOO radio station.

Witness Sheri Cooper, said, "I was a little nervous cause I have a three year old in the room and there were a lot of kids here. I was a little nervous."

Cooper was next door at the Memorial Baptist Church for choir practice, when she said police officers told everyone inside the church to get away from the windows.

"Moved all the kids to an indoor room and notified everybody else in the building," Cooper said.

Officers originally thought masked men were holding workers hostage inside the radio station. Police quickly jumped into action, blocking off traffic, notifying neighbors and searching the building. But they were unable to find any threat.

Sergeant Mark Mackenzie with the Tulsa Police said, "What we're finding is there was nothing unusual. We couldn't get anybody to answer the phone, so we weren't able to verify anything by phone."

Mackenzie said the call came in through a third party and they're having a hard time tracking the original caller.

"I think it's very thoughtless at all because it puts officers in harm's way that are trying to get here. It puts citizens at risk that are out on the road having to get out of the way; it snarls up traffic," Mackenzie said.

Cooper said, "It kind of makes me mad that somebody would report something like that and then it not be true."

Fortunately, no one was hurt and workers inside said they were unaware of reports about the threat to begin with. Tulsa Police said they will continue to try to trace back who originally made the call. If they find the person, they could face charges of filing a false police report.