Schools in two Connecticut towns were in lockdown on Monday, the first day children returned to class since Friday’s massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown.

All schools in Ridgefield, Connecticut, were in lockdown because of a suspicious person who might be armed, police said. In nearby Redding, schools were locked down as a precaution, police said.

Ridgefield is about 20 miles (30 km) from Newtown, site of Friday’s elementary school massacre where a gunman shot dead 20 children and six adults at Sandy Hook Elementary School.

“We’re looking for a suspicious person at an elementary school,” said a dispatcher at the Ridgefield Police Department.

State police in Newtown were aware of the situation, and said local police were handling it.

“I’m aware of that situation in the town of Ridgefield. … There’s a report of a suspicious person, a suspicious person that may or may not be armed,” Lieutenant Paul Vance of Connecticut State Police told a news conference.

In Redding, about 10 miles (16 km) from Newtown, police gave no indication of whether there was a threat.

“Schools are in lockdown as a precautionary measure, that’s all I can say,” a Redding police dispatcher said.

This is a moment of great uncertainty. Here’s what you can do about it.

We hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, we’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s independent Jewish news this Passover.

This is a moment of great uncertainty for the news media, for the Jewish people, and for our sacred democracy. It is a time of confusion and declining trust in public institutions. An era in which we need humans to report facts, conduct investigations that hold power to account, tell stories that matter and share honest discourse on all that divides us.

With no paywall or subscriptions, the Forward is entirely supported by readers like you. Every dollar you give this Passover is invested in the future of the Forward — and telling the American Jewish story fully and fairly.

The Forward doesn’t rely on funding from institutions like governments or your local Jewish federation. There are thousands of readers like you who give us $18 or $36 or $100 each month or year.

Don't just read the Forward - invest in it. Make a gift today.

Support our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.

Support Our Work