A lockdown at Unioto Middle School and Unioto High School in Chillicothe was lifted Tuesday morning after the Ross County Sheriff’s Office determined that a threat call made shortly before classes began was fake, according to J News Network, which had a reporter on the campus throughout the response. Students who had been held inside the buildings and on buses are safe, J News Network reported.
Ross County Sheriff George W. Lavender Jr. said in a statement posted by the Ross County Sheriff’s Office and reported by J News Network that shortly before 8:00 a.m. the Chillicothe Police Department alerted his office to a threat call to Unioto Middle School, that deputies were at the school searching the buildings and the exterior, and that K9 units were on the way to assist with the search.
The caller claimed to have a fully automatic firearm and said he planned to open fire on people on campus, and the caller also reported pipe bombs inside the buildings, according to the Scioto Valley Guardian, which also had a reporter at the scene. More than 100 parents waited outside while students remained inside, the Scioto Valley Guardian reported.
Union-Scioto Superintendent Thornsberry said a potential threat to the middle school was reported to the sheriff’s department first thing Tuesday morning and that, as a precaution, the middle school and the high school were placed in lockdown, J News Network reported. Thornsberry said there had been no threat reported to the elementary school, that all buildings were secure while law enforcement checked the campuses, and that parents should not come to campus while officers worked, according to J News Network.
Students arriving by bus were not let into the school and were held on buses moved to the elementary school parking lot, while students already inside were kept on lockdown, J News Network reported. Officers swept the high school as the search went on, according to J News Network.
Sheriff’s officials told the Scioto Valley Guardian at the scene that they believed the threat was not credible. The sheriff said he was positive the students were safe and believed the incident was fake, he told the Scioto Valley Guardian, while the search continued and K9 teams responded from Columbus, the Scioto Valley Guardian reported.
At 9:10 a.m., the lockdown was lifted and the incident was over, and the threat call was determined to be fake, the Ross County Sheriff’s Office determined, according to J News Network. What happens next: no release or reunification plan had been announced as of J News Network’s latest update, and neither outlet reported any injuries. NewsForce247 will update this story if the sheriff’s office or the district releases information about the investigation into who made the call.
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