Today, December 14th, around 10:45 in the morning an individual informed a store employee in the Town of Cincinnatus that there was “going to be a shooting.” The threat was directed at a school within Cortland County.
The store employee immediately dialed 911 to inform emergency officials of the threat. The employee also contacted the Cincinnatus Central School District of the threat as well.
Due to the threat, multiple school districts including Cincinnatus, Homer, Cortland, Marathon, Whitney Point, McGraw, DeRuyter, and Truxton Academy were either in a Lockdown or Lockout.
A lockout situation is different compared to a lockdown. During a lockout, staff and student movement is restricted and individuals outside are immediately brought back into the building. Anyone entering or exiting the building during a lockout must use the building’s main entrance and with approval of the designated person stationed at that door.
Cincinnatus Schools was in a complete lockdown for 10 minutes before switching to a lock-out, meaning no one besides officials are allowed entrance to the building. Several other school districts followed suit to the procedure.
Sheriff deputies, and the Cortland County Dispatch Center, were able to contact and communicate with school officials throughout the county and surrounding counties quickly to inform them of the unnamed school threat, which then resulted in multiple schools going into either lockdown or lockout as a safety precaution.
Officers throughout Cortland County responded to area schools to remain on site until the situation was resolved.
“The individual who had allegedly made the threat was located and interviewed by Officers of the Sheriff’s Office. During the interview with the individual, the reported statements that had been made were inaccurate and it was determined that there were no actual threats of violence towards any schools. ” Cortland County Sheriff’s Department said in a press release.
All school districts resumed to normal operations around 1pm today.
“I am most proud of the ability of our staff, students, and families to trust that we had our protocols in place and maintained the safety of each member of our school community.” Cincinnatus Central School District Superintendent Todd M. Freeman said in a press release.
Additional information will be added once released.
