New York School District on Lockdown After a Visit From a Man With a Gun

The schools in Mamaroneck, N.Y., went on lockdown Thursday and evening activities have been canceled after a man with a gun tried to enter a middle school, according to a report from NBC 4 New York.

Hommocks Middle School in Mamaroneck, N.Y. (Photo: Mamaroneck Union Free School District)

The man tried to enter Hommocks Middle School through a locked side door and went around to the main entrance where he was stopped. According to NBC, he was asked by an employee what he was doing there and it was then that the employee noticed a gun.

The reason he was at the school in the first place was to retrieve a piece of clothing left at the school over the weekend, NBC reported Mararoneck Police saying. Hommocks Middle School's pool is open for the public to swim at during set hours.

A police officer described the unnamed man as "pleasant."

The man never entered the school and left the grounds, it appears, after being questioned by law enforcement.

The reaction by the school district to the man with the gun is understandable given the tragic massacre that occurred at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn., on Dec. 14. Twenty students and six staff members were murdered by the 20-year-old who was identified as Adam Lanza, the shooter who also killed himself on the scene. The surviving students returned to the school for the first time since the shooting Jan. 3.

Here's more details of Thursday's the incident in New York as reported by the News Journal:

“The man made no threats and was described as pleasant,” [Lt. Robert] Kosiak said.

[...]

“When asked to provide his ID, the campus supervisor noticed that he appeared to be holding a gun underneath his coat and asked the individual if he was carrying a weapon,” the district stated in a news release. “The individual responded that he works in the security field and acknowledged that he was armed with a gun. When told he could not remain on school grounds, he immediately left the building.”

An email was sent to parents to inform them of the incident. All schools in the Mamaroneck Union Free School District went into lockdown with evening activities canceled as a “as a precautionary measure," the News Journal stated. The local ABC 7 channel reported that the schools will have a police officer present on Friday.