Sandy Hook Elementary School was evacuated and classes dismissed for the day after a bomb threat was called in on Friday, the sixth anniversary of a 2012 shooting at the Newtown, Connecticut, school that left 20 children and six adults dead.
On Friday morning, the school received a phone call from an unknown person “purporting a bomb threat,” Lt. Aaron Bahamonde with the Newtown Police Department told HuffPost. Officers conducted a “thorough sweep of the school” before it was decided to let teachers and students go home for the day.
“This day being what it is, and tensions and anxiety both being very high, it was decided by the school superintendent and teachers not to continue the day and to instead dismiss school,” Bahamonde said.
Over the years, many parents of Sandy Hook victims have received an overwhelming number of threats from people falsely claiming the shooting was a hoax and never actually happened.
“Please stand with our community as we attempt to survive another tragic anniversary,” Newtown Action, a gun control advocacy group formed after the shooting, tweeted Friday.
Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) said on Twitter that his heart was “breaking” at the news of the bomb threat.
Police said they are continuing to investigate the call. All other schools in Newtown remained open as of noon on Friday.