CORAL SPRINGS, FLA. (WSVN) - Authorities have lifted a lockdown at J.P. Taravella High School after reports of a suspicious person went unfounded.
Coral Springs Police posted to Twitter that students were on a code red as they investigated, just after 8 a.m., Thursday.
Members of the SWAT team also responded to assist.
According to officials, a student at the school believed he saw a former student on campus wearing a hoodie and carrying a backpack.
Teachers were forced to shut off lights and hide students once the lockdown was in place.
An officer who was filmed on cellphone video asked a class, “Do you guys know everyone in here? Speak up.”
The class then told the officer that they did recognize everyone in the room.
Students at the school expressed fear with the MSD tragedy still fresh on their minds.
“I was scared because the thing that happened with [Marjory Stoneman] Douglas made me, like I was just so scared,” student Geanna LaFrance said. “I text my mom, and she said, ‘Just pray. Be safe.'”
Cellphone video from inside one of the classrooms showed an officer holding a rifle telling students to “sit tight.”
“Everything just went black, let’s put it that way,” student Brian Alameida said. “Doors locked.”
Another student described his terrifying experience.
“We were put into two different closets because it’s a big class,” said Zachary Walfore who spent two hours hiding. “The teacher went into one room with half of the students, and I was in the room with the other half.”
Walfore said this is just the new reality following the tragedy at Marjory Stoneman Douglas.
“It happens. You can’t ignore the fact that it happens,” he said. “You either need to prepare yourself mentally for it, or you’re just gonna get shook every single time it happens.”
“This wasn’t fake. This was real,” Almeida continued. “So everyone was like, ‘Stay quiet.’ So I was like, ‘OK,’ and we had to pack together tightly.”
Parents lined up outside of the school anxiously waiting for the all clear.
“I text my son, ‘Are you OK?’ and he told me, ‘Mommy, I’m scared. I’m scared,'” said Carleine Desir. “It’s very scary. You send your kid to school and you never know if they’re gonna come back from school.”
Just before 10 a.m., the lockdown was lifted after officials confirmed the student in question was at home.
*UPDATE * We identified the circumstances involving the initial suspicious person call & confirmed no threat or danger to the school. The Code Red has been lifted from JPT HS & school will resume normal activities. We are clearing resources from the roadways.
— Coral Springs Police (@CoralSpringsPD) April 4, 2019
Roadways in the area were temporarily blocked by emergency vehicles.
However, the roads have been reopened and traffic is once again flowing.
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