STRONGSVILLE, Ohio -- Authorities say Strongsville High School was evacuated after a suspicious phone call.
Student, Jeremy Chupek shook his head as he recalled the drama at Strongsville High School this morning. "People were running, they were scared", said Chupek. He added, "Teachers were freaking out because they weren't even sure what was going on either."
The crisis took place just before noon when two calls were made, one to Strongsville High School and the other to the Strongsville Police Department. Both threats were specific. "Bombs were going to detonate at the High school in 10 minutes," the caller claimed and added that "two students had guns."
Lauren Turchyn joined more than two thousand other students who were told to evacuate the building immediately. Lauren said, "I just heard over the announcements that we need to like get out like super fast. I was kind of terrified. This has happened before to us. I didn't know if it was real or this was fake."
Parents like Samira Salamat rushed to the school to find her son, Nifan, after she received a phone notification from the school. But after circling the parking several times she was clearly frustrated when she couldn't locate anybody. "I don't know where they are," said Salamat. "I cannot find them and I cannot find my son. I just want to know that he is safe."
The emergency protocol at the High School requires that students walk almost half a mile to the bus garage area. Today the wind chill was hovering around four degrees below zero and during the evacuation students were not allowed to stop to pick up coats or gloves.
Chupek told Channel 3's Mike O'Mara that, "Teachers weren't letting anyone go to their lockers to get their coats. So everyone was out here in their t-shirts freezing in the cold."
Strongsville Police gave the all clear about 2 hours later as they continued to search for the caller. Strongsville Superintendent, John Krupinski, said "The police have determined that today's bomb threat was not credible. I commend our students, teachers, staff and administrators for handling a very difficult situation well. There will be an ongoing investigation and as always, we will continue to make decisions with the safety of students as the top priority."
Strongsville High School will reopen Friday morning.
Earlier in January, the school had extra law enforcement present on the campus after it received word of a threatening post made on anonymous messaging app.
