PENN YAN, N.Y. — Counties across New York are working to prevent dangerous situations after a lockdown at Penn Yan Academy Thursday.
What happened?
A phone call was made to the school saying someone had a weapon, and the school posted that other districts across the state received similar calls. Investigators said all the calls happened around the same time and they believe the calls are linked, but they are still investigating.
Law enforcement agencies respond to every call as if it is real and take the threat seriously. Cayuga County Sheriff said he did not respond to the Penn Yan call but did respond to another threat in his county, which was the second in two days.
Threats in Cayuga County
Because of this, he is stressing the importance of if you see something say something. He said yesterday someone had a flammable liquid and set a door on fire in school.
The day before, a student brought in what looked like two guns. They were BB guns.
“I would encourage anyone that sees any type of threatening behavior, whether it be a post on social media or they hear a direct threat or they observe that somebody is just not acting the same or seems to be going down a bad path, trust your instincts and don’t rely on the fact that somebody else is reporting that behavior,” the sheriff said. “Please take the time to make that report, even if you do that anonymously, because we can’t prevent these types of things if we don’t have the information in advance,” said the sheriff.
Update on Penn Yan schools
Many students returned to Penn Yan Academy the day after the lockdown, though some stayed home. A Penn Yan police cruiser was seen during school dismissal.
Other districts that received the same false call were in Lewis County and Hamilton County.
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