Threat Forced The Closure Of CTC Campuses In Lancaster County

WILLOW STREET: A social media threat prompted the early dismissal of students from the Lancaster County Career & Technology Center. Just before 9:30 a.m., West Lampeter Township Police stated in a news release that they were called to the school’s Willow Street branch in response to an active shooter incident. When the police came, the school was placed on lockdown. Police claimed there was no current threat after searching the building. After the students were removed, a second round of room-to-room searching was conducted. According to authorities, after making sure all the students were there, they were led to Willow Street Mennonite Church, where some were released to their parents and others drove off on their own.

They Were Merely Concerned About The Students’ Safety

“We had to search through a certain number of rooms that they had already checked and looked through, and they had the lights and everything, and they were pointing their guns at us,” said student Donovan Holmes. Keep your hands up and out of your pockets, they instructed us. Avoid reaching below. We were required to walk with our hands raised all the way to the front. The announcement stated that an initial inquiry revealed the event was caused by an all-encompassing, ambiguous threat that had been making the rounds on social media platforms for a few weeks. The caller who made the threat was a student’s relative, and according to the police, they were merely concerned about the students’ safety and had no malevolent intent.

All Campuses Were Shut Down Early

Mom of Holmes, Felicia Reese, remarked, “This isn’t normal.” Not in our community does anything like this occur. Such material is shown in motion pictures. In an exercise of extreme prudence, all campuses were shut down early, according to a statement from Dr. Stuart Savin, the school’s administrative director. Friday marks the reopening of the center. We would also like to congratulate our instructors, staff, and students at our Willow Street location for the fantastic job they did to ensure everyone was safe, Savin said in a statement. The building has been cleared by the authorities. We are thankful and appreciative that they exercised due caution and took the necessary actions to ensure everyone’s safety. The building is clearly visible, and this was not a real threat.