Connecticut police investigation concludes at middle school; added security remains
By AYAH GALAL, MIKE AGOGLIATI
Click here for updates on this story
WATERTOWN, Connecticut (WFSB) — Students at Swift Middle school in Watertown will have a 2 hour delay on Thursday due to a police investigation.
According to police, the delay was a precaution to give police and school officials time to investigate before safely welcoming students back into the classroom.
They announced later in the morning that they concluded their investigation.
“Police investigators, along with school district administration and security personnel, have exhaustively investigated all aspects of the potential threat,” said Det. Mark Conway, Watertown police. “In addition, the [Watertown Police Department] and [Watertown Public Schools] administration completed a thorough external and interior search of the complete buildings finding nothing unusual.”
Police said a parent originally reached out to alert them of a potentially violent act that allegedly was supposedly going to take place at the middle school on Thursday.
There was a police presence in the back of the school by the cafeteria on Thursday morning when Channel 3 arrived.
Watertown police Chief Josh Bernegger told Channel 3 that the extra security was a precaution:
“The Watertown Police Department is working with the Watertown Board of Education to investigate an uncorroborated comment overheard [Wednesday] regarding an act of violence that would be taking place at Swift Middle School [Thursday]. The Watertown Police Department has no information to believe there is any credibility to this overheard comment, but is vigorously investigating to ensure the safety of all students and staff. Out of an abundance of caution the Board of Education has called for a 2 hour delay to provide additional time for the investigation. Added security will be on location at Swift Middle School throughout the day.”
Extra security was also added to other schools in the district.
Counselors were also brought in to help staff.
Watertown police alerted families Wednesday night of the two hour delay.
However, Conway said Thursday morning there were no indicators that the threat was valid.
They planned to help debrief students about what happened.
“The Watertown Police Department, along with the Watertown Public School District, would like to reassure the entire Watertown Community that the threat is over and that our students and schools are safe to run as usual at this time,” Conway said. “We know that hearing about incidents that include threats like these can cause feelings of fear and worry – that is completely normal. And in these cases, it’s important to know that you can trust your school and town’s emergency teams to do exactly what they are trained to do to ensure an extremely detailed examination of all situations in order to ensure that we can all return to normal.”
Extra security was also added to other schools in the district.
Counselors were also brought in to help staff.
Watertown police alerted families Wednesday night of the two hour delay.
However, Conway said Thursday morning there were no indicators that the threat was valid.
They planned to help debrief students about what happened.
“The Watertown Police Department, along with the Watertown Public School District, would like to reassure the entire Watertown Community that the threat is over and that our students and schools are safe to run as usual at this time,” Conway said. “We know that hearing about incidents that include threats like these can cause feelings of fear and worry – that is completely normal. And in these cases, it’s important to know that you can trust your school and town’s emergency teams to do exactly what they are trained to do to ensure an extremely detailed examination of all situations in order to ensure that we can all return to normal.”
Please note: This content carries a strict local market embargo. If you share the same market as the contributor of this article, you may not use it on any platform.
