Several school districts in Cortland, Chenango, Broome and Tioga counties went into lockout Wednesday after a person at a Cincinattus dollar store threatened a shooting.
A suspect was apprehended by police at 1:15 p.m., according to a statement released Wednesday afternoon by the Cincinattus Central School District.
For some school districts, this was the second school threat this week. Wednesday is also the 10-year anniversary of the Sandy Hook school shooting.
In a statement, Cincinattus superintendent Todd Freeman said an unidentified person told a clerk at the Cincinnatus Dollar General store that “there is going to be a shooting” and to “put it all over the media.”
The threat was not directed specifically at a school.
The clerk reported the alleged threat to law enforcement and school leadership at around 10:45 a.m., which triggered a 10-minute lockdown for Cincinattus area schools.
The lockdown was downgraded to a lockout after the threat was deemed not imminent or directed at the school. During a lockout, people are prohibited from entering or exiting school buildings.
Other districts also called lockouts out of caution, according to school officials and WBNG. School districts affected include Cincinattus, Broome Tioga BOCES, Norwich, Binghamton, Vestal, Whitney Point, Chenango Valley, Chenango Forks and Maine Endwell. Lockouts were lifted early Wednesday afternoon after police apprehended a suspect.
On Monday, police and witnesses said a heavily armed Broome County man took to Facebook Live and threatened a mass shooting, triggering lockouts at several Broome County school districts and healthcare facilities. Two men have since been charged in connection with that earlier incident.