C-TEC lockdown sparked by Internet misinformation

NEWARK – A bit of Internet confusion and misinformation led to a lockdown and heavy police presence at the Career and Technology Education Centers of Licking County Wednesday afternoon.

There were rumors of suspects with guns at the school, but no weapons or suspects were found.

Law enforcement gave the all-clear — twice — and the upshot is no one was injured and students and staff were never in danger, said Brian Wilfong, C-TEC marketing and recruitment coordinator.

The incident started about 12:15 p.m. when someone reported to C-TEC officials she saw people in a red car with guns, Wilfong said. C-TEC officials immediately called police, who came out to the school, investigated, swept the area and gave the all-clear, Wilfong said.

Then, later in the day, another resident was on a local social media page that posts emergency scanner items and saw a mention of the initial report, Wilfong said. The resident thought it was a new report and called his girlfriend at the school to make sure she was OK. The girlfriend reported it to C-TEC officials — "as she should have," Wilfong said — who assumed it was a new threat and again called police.

The school went on lockdown shortly after 1 p.m., with police blocking each entrance. Police started investigating again, and it was about 30 minutes later they were able to determine it was simply a re-report of the earlier incident, Wilfong said.

"Essentially, what happened was, the same thing was reported twice," he said. "She re-reported the original report."

The lockdown was lifted before school released at 2:25 p.m. Essentially, despite a lot of commotion, it was much ado about nothing, Wilfong said. C-TEC checked all its camera feeds, and while there was a red car on the road near the school, cameras never captured it in the actual parking lot. Couple that with the fact red cars are plentiful, and it's a tough claim to substantiate, Wilfong said.

"I'm not saying it's not true — there's no way to prove it," he said. "It could have been a hoax, for all we know."