Noise that might have come from a construction site or a car backfiring led to a tense afternoon in Plainville after police received a report of what sounded like gunshots in the area of the high school.
The call came in at 12:25 p.m. and Plainville High School and Linden Street School were placed on lockdown until a SWAT team swept the high school and found nothing concerning.
The lockdown lasted for around an hour and a half and parents said what they felt during that time was fear.
“Utter fear. I hate that this is the new normal for our society. It shouldn’t have to be this way,” said Morgan Hopkins, who has two children who will be graduating from the high school this weekend. “I want to see them walk down the stage.”
Hopkins said she got a text from her daughter that said the school was in code red and that she loved her. Her daughter told her that students were huddled together, waiting, and police were running down the halls.
As a mother, her instinct was to get to her children.
“It’s just really scary because of everything that happens nowadays. You never know,” Hopkins said.
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Supt. Maureen Brummett said no one was ever in harm's way and she commended police, administrators and students.
It’s now part of the way we do business. We spend more time talking about security than we probably thought we would when we went into the field,” she said.
The superintendent attributed the sound to a construction site nearby. Police said the origin is not known, but it might have come from a construction site or a car backfiring.
