Sandy Hook Elementary School was evacuated on Oct. 1, following a bomb threat. Warning of an impending blast was received by phone at about 9:30 a.m., triggering the response. Police searched the grounds for an explosive device or other weapons, but did not discover any dangerous material.
Students were moved from the threatened building to the Jockey Hollow School building after the threat was received. That facility is located on the same grounds as the building where the students were studying.
"Earlier today a bomb scare was received at Sandy Hook School. The scare was classified as a 'no threat-low threat' event, but in an abundance of caution, Superintendent Erardi determined that dismissal of students at 12 noon is the best course of action. All students and staff are safe," Pat Llodra, First Selectman of Newton, Connecticut, said in a statement.
The school was relocated to a building in Monroe, Connecticut, formerly occupied by Chaulk Hill School, after a massacre at the former building nearly two years ago.
On Dec. 14, 2012, a shooting took place at the school, then located in Newtown, Connecticut. The incident unfolded when 20-year-old Adam Lanza came on to school property, brandishing a firearm. There, he shot 20 students to death, along with six adult members of the staff. When police arrived at the scene, the young man turned the gun on himself, committing suicide.
Authorities soon discovered the killer had fatally shot his mother before committing one of the worst school killings in American history. The Connecticut State Attorney's Office conducted a full investigation of the events, determining that Lanza acted alone in the crimes. Still, investigators were unable to determine a motive for the killings, or why he chose Sandy Hook Elementary as his target. The building where the tragic event took place was demolished, and building material hauled away, leaving no scene of where the students and faculty perished that fateful day.
The Monroe Police Department was the first to respond to the bomb threat, and they were reinforced by officers from Newton.
Parents were immediately notified of the incident by school personnel, some of whom opted to pick up their children from school. Other students made their way home on buses, which arrived at the school by noon, and followed normal routes to drop off students.
The Bushmaster M4 Type Carbine used by Lanza fires .22-caliber bullets, and is modeled after the popular AR-15 automatic weapons. The civilian version of the Bushmaster is only capable of firing in semi-automatic mode. The incident triggered a wave of public calls both for, and against, greater gun control.
"Please be assured that students and staff are safe and that all reasonable and appropriate precautions are being taken," Llodra told reporters.
