WILLOWICK, Ohio — Officials confirm two separate Northeast Ohio school districts endured their own separate lockdowns on Tuesday, with police now reassuring the public that all students are safe.
According to Willoughby-Eastlake Interim Superintendent Charles Murphy, Willowick Middle School was placed under a "soft lockdown" this morning following a report of a weapon inside the building, meaning students were not allowed to change classrooms. Police checked the facility as well as lockers and deemed it safe for normal schedules to resume, although officers will remain at the school for the rest of the day as a precaution.
Further south, Mogadore police confirm all schools inside the village's district as well as the Mogadore branch of the Akron-Summit County Public Library were placed on full lockdown around 9:45 a.m. after an employee at nearby Synthomer found a spent bullet on the business' property. Authorities located the .40 caliber shell casing and conducted "an extensive search of the facility and grounds," but Police Chief Todd Higgins says "no credible threat was found," and the lockdowns were lifted.
These are just the latest lockdown incidents to take place in the area over the last week-plus. Back on April 3, a student at West Geauga High School was arrested and later charged with attempted murder after allegedly bringing a gun to the building with a plan to shoot multiple people, while Solon's Roxbury Elementary School was briefly locked down three days later due to police shooting at a 16-year-old carjacking suspect close by.
While both of Tuesday's threats appear to have passed, Willoughby-Eastlake administrators did not specify if a weapon was actually found inside the middle school. Neither district indicated they would be canceling any classes in the coming days.