Connecticut day school has ‘soft lockdown’ after threatening call

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(JTA) — A Jewish day school in Connecticut underwent a “soft lockdown” after receiving a threatening phone message.

The Solomon Schechter Day School of Greater Hartford in West Hartford responded Friday morning upon receiving an automated phone call similar to one received at approximately the same time at a public elementary school in Amherst, Massachusetts, the Hartford Courant reported.

The voice on the automated call said, “This is not a drill. There’s someone on campus with a weapon. To repeat this message hit the star button.” The person who answered the phone at the Conservative school pressed the star button and the message was repeated before the phone line went dead, police told the Courant.

The school, which runs from nursery to eighth grade, immediately called the police, who arrived within 90 seconds and found nothing amiss. Under the lockdown, no one was allowed to enter or leave the school and the students remained in their classrooms.

Detectives in West Hartford are working to determine the source of the call and whether it was made intentionally.

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