By Ken Valenti

WESTPORT–Police continue to investigate the swatting incident that rattled public schools across the area yesterday, as an apparently coordinated swatting hoax played out between 10:30 a.m. and noon.

Bedford Middle School was locked down and movement at Staples High School was restricted after the middle school received a threat of bombs and armed intruders. The threat turned out to be a hoax played on several area schools, Westport Police said.

Later in the day, the Greens Farm Academy became swept up in the series of so-called “swatting incidents” (prank calls about fake emergencies), apparently by coincidence. The threat there – a text to a security guard – turned out to be intended for staff of another school district that had the same security guard’s personal cell number on file, Westport police said. Classes were not in session.

The threat to Bedford Middle School came in a call to the main office at 10:32 a.m., police said. When the lockdown was imposed, a shelter-in-place order was placed on Staples, which shares a campus with the school at 88 North Ave. 

“Shortly after the initial call was received by the school, other agencies around the state began receiving calls of a similar nature, suggesting that this was potentially part of an organized hoax,” a Westport police statement said. 

Westport officers were joined by officers and canine units from Fairfield, Norwalk and the Connecticut State Police as well as the Stamford Police Department bomb squad in multiple sweeps and searches of the middle school.

“After an exhaustive search, no threats or explosive devices were located, and the lockdown protocol was lifted at approximately noon,” the police statement said. The shelter-in-place order at Staples had been lifted before then, police said.

Later in the day, police also swept Greens Farm Academy, when the text there was reported, as a precaution, police said.

Westport schools Superintendent Thomas Scarice arrived at Bedford shortly before 11 a.m. and remained with administrators throughout the incident, he said in an email to the school community. 

“After the lockdown was lifted, I walked throughout all nine instructional pods. Along with the Bedford administrative team, I had the opportunity to observe classrooms, speak with staff, and interact with students across the building,” he wrote. “Students demonstrated resilience, maturity, and cooperation throughout an extraordinarily stressful situation. Teachers and staff provided exactly what students needed: calm, reassurance, consistency, and care.”

Scarice continued, “In the coming days, Westport Public Schools and the Westport Police Department will conduct a more comprehensive after-action review to evaluate our response, identify lessons learned, and continue strengthening our emergency preparedness efforts. . . . The investigation into the source of the call remains active and is being handled by the Westport Police Department.”

Ken Valenti

^{_{A career journalist and lifelong resident of the New York City region, Ken Valenti has enjoyed decades of reporting local, regional and national news in New York and Connecticut. Topics of special interest are development, the environment, Long Island Sound and transportation. When not reporting, he’s always on the lookout for the perfect coffee shop or used book sale.}}