LEWISTON — Lewiston High School was on lockdown Monday morning as police investigated “alarming statements” someone was overheard making against the school.
Superintendent Bill Webster put the school in lockdown around 9:30 a.m. on the advice of Lewiston Police. The move prevented anyone from leaving or entering the building.
Webster emphasized that the lockdown was just a precaution.
“Within the school, everything is fine,” he said.
Webster tweeted just before 11 a.m. that the school system had been given the all-clear and the high school was returning to normal operations.
However, Lewiston Police Lt. David St. Pierre said Lewiston High, Lewiston Middle and Longley Elementary schools remained in “soft lockdown,” allowing people to come and go but placing increased scrutiny on visitors and an increased police presence at the three schools.
“It’s more precautionary given the state of what’s been going on across the country,” he said. “We don’t want to take any chances.”
Eight Texas high school students and two teachers were killed in a school shooting Friday.
That soft lockdown, too, was lifted within half an hour.
St. Pierre said someone overheard what sounded like a threatening statement off school property but about the high school. St. Pierre didn’t know exactly what the statement was, but he said it suggested “that something could happen inside Lewiston High School.”
Police continue to investigate. While they do, St. Pierre said, there may be an increased police presence at a the high school.
“It’s completely precautionary,” said. “We have no indication or belief that there’s an actual threat or that anybody in particular is in any danger.”
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