Security fears lead to closing of school

Staff report

HUBBARD

Early Tuesday morning, police responded to a potential problem near Roosevelt Elementary School, 110 Orchard Ave., and School Superintendent Richard Buchenic canceled school there for the day.

Police received a call reporting that a man intended to harm himself and possibly had a firearm. City police, with assistance from the township police department, formed a perimeter in the 300 block of South Main Street, where the despondent person lived. Police were unable to contact the person and learned he was no longer at the residence.

Police, through the man’s cellphone number, got an approximate location of the man near School Street and Stewart Avenue — the vicinity of Roosevelt.

The incident started at 5:21 a.m. Acting Chief Lou Carsone said “the safety of the kids” was the concern and as a precaution he consulted Buchenic, who canceled classes for the day.

Eventually, the despondent man was found at his residence, where he exited without a weapon and was taken to Trumbull Memorial Hospital. The incident ended at about 7:30 a.m.

Buchenic said school was canceled to avoid a potentially dangerous situation. He said if the situation had occurred when school was in session, the school would have been in lockdown mode. That is, all doors would be locked and students would remain in classrooms until it was resolved.