Police: No explosives found at Middletown High, threat at Redding Middle unfounded

With sighs of relief, students from Middletown High rushed out of the building and into their parents' arms nearly two hours after the school was placed on lockdown Thursday. 

"All I heard is it was a bomb threat," ninth-grader Autumn Bennett said, describing how she was shooed into a classroom by her teacher when the lockdown was announced.

She said students were told by staff they couldn't leave because they might be shot. 

Emily Jalbert, a senior, said she ran upstairs to her sociology class. She and her classmates pushed desks, chairs, a metal file cabinet and a podium against the door to barricade themselves in. They turned off the lights, sat in the dark and waited, with thoughts of Parkland, Florida, and other deadly school shootings racing through their heads. 

"I was scared," 17-year-old Jalbert said. "I was texting my little brother at Redding (Middle School) and my dad at the district office, who were both on lockdown." 

"We were worried there was a shooter ... I'm just happy to go home. I feel so relieved." 

Master Cpl. Mike Austin of the Delaware State Police said during a press conference that a helicopter was used to search the area surrounding the school after officials received bomb and gun threats.

Canine units were used to search inside the school, and no suspicious packages or devices were found. Police closed Del. 299 between Silver Lake Road and Brick Mill Road while they investigated the threats. 

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After Appoqunimink district schools were placed on lockdown, Redding Middle School also received a threat of nonspecific violence, which proved to be unfounded, Austin said. 

The stressful afternoon started and ended with Middletown High, which Austin said was placed on lockdown after it received a threat at 12:45 p.m. saying someone was going to bring a pipe bomb to the school. The caller was male. 

About 10 minutes later, state police received a second threat saying someone was in the wooded area next to Middletown High School armed with a rifle. The second caller was also male, but Austin said police don't know if it was the same person. 

As a result, the rest of the district's schools were placed on lockdown and officers were assigned to their campuses. The school sent out an alert telling parents the situation was fluid and that the lockdown wouldn't be lifted until police gave the all-clear.

In the interim, police officers directed traffic away from several streets surrounding Middletown High School, which has an enrollment of 1,569 students this year. Local day cares were also placed on lockdown, according to Facebook. 

All schools except Middletown High were dismissed at their normal time, according to an update sent by the district a little before 2:30 p.m.

Starting at 2:45, Middletown High started a "staged dismissal," bringing buses on campus to load in a staggered fashion in order to allow police to provide tight security. 

All after-school activities at Middletown High were postponed. It had a boys soccer game against Appoquimink High School, a unified flag football game against Newark Charter School, a football game against William Penn High School and a boys soccer game against St. Georges Tech.

Activities at other district schools proceeded normally, according to the district. State police have indicated that there is no threat to those campuses. 

Austin said there were no injuries or disruptive students during the incident. 

"It goes a long way to show what this district has done and the type of climate they have built," Austin said. 

Austin said there is an active and ongoing investigation into the threats. There were no prior indications that someone would threaten the school, he said. 

"The biggest point of that investigation is obviously identifying the source of the phone call, identifying a suspect," he said, encouraging anyone who might have information about the caller or the threats to report it to the school's resource officer.

He can be reached by calling the school's main office at (302) 376-4141. 

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Contact Jessica Bies at (302) 324-2881 or jbies@delawareonline.com. Follow her on Twitter @jessicajbies.