Newtown Schools Placed on Lockdown After Phone Threat
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Mario Tama/Getty Images(NEWTOWN, Conn.) — Schools in Newtown, Conn., were placed on “lockdown” Monday after a phoned-in threat, a scare that one mom called a “horrible, evil thing to do” to a town still recovering from the December massacre of 20 first graders.
The schools were placed on modified lockdown, in which students were dismissed to parents or by bus, after a threat was called in to Hawley Elementary School, according to schools superintendent John Reed.
Reed said that the threat was being investigated by police and the FBI and that it was not a “bomb threat,” though he would not give details on the nature of the phone call.
Newtown police said they put schools on lockdown for “precautionary measures” but would not offer any other details.
Parents of Newtown students told ABC News they received an alert about the modified lockdown and police response. They were told to expect afternoon busses to be delayed, but otherwise not to worry.
The scare comes almost exactly six months after a gunman broke into Sandy Hook Elementary School on Dec. 14, 2012, and gunned down 26 people. He also killed his mother and himself during the rampage.
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