Skip To Content
JEWISH. INDEPENDENT. NONPROFIT.
Breaking News

Schools in Towns Near Newtown in Lockdown

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.

Republish This Story

Please read before republishing

We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines. You must credit the Forward, retain our pixel and preserve our canonical link in Google search.  See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.

To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at [email protected], subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.

We don't support Internet Explorer

Please use Chrome, Safari, Firefox, or Edge to view this site.