LOWER BURRELL, Pa. (AP) — A western Pennsylvania district locked down its four schools after two first-graders thought a second-grader with a scarf over their face was a masked intruder.
A parent complicated matters in the Burrell School District on Monday when he went to Bon Air Elementary to check on his child once word of the lockdown hit social media. The parent, wearing a black hoodie, was detained and briefly suspected of being the intruder before police confirmed his identity.
Lower Burrell police Chief Tim Weitzel tells the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review the first-graders did the right thing, even though they were mistaken.
District Superintendent Shannon Wagner called it “a mix-up of circumstances” but said “our students did what they were taught to do.”
The district is about 25 miles northeast of Pittsburgh.