Four Edgewood area schools were briefly locked down in Edgewood Tuesday morning while Harford County Sheriff's Office deputies investigated a report of shots being fired around the Edgewood Plaza shopping center.
The lockdowns of Deerfield Elementary School, Edgewood Elementary, Edgewood Middle School and Edgewood High School were reported on the Harford County Public Schools Facebook and Twitter accounts Tuesday afternoon, after the event ended.
Edgewood High Principal Larissa Santos announced on her Twitter feed that all EHS after-school and evening activities had been canceled for Tuesday.
"We received a report of shots fired behind the Edgewood Plaza," according to the HCPS Facebook announcement. "We do NOT know if this incident was related to the events in Baltimore City. However, the Sheriff's Department was able to respond quickly resulting in the lockdown being lifted very quickly."
Cristie Kahler, spokesperson for the Sheriff's Office, said that around 9:30 am, deputies responded to a routine call for service in the area of Brookside Drive and Judy Way fora report of shots fired.
"It appears through investigation that the shots were random," she said. "There were no injuries."
Kahler explained in an email that lockdowns happen "regularly" when an emergency happens near a school.
"An incident will occur near a school, as a precaution the school will go on lockdown," Kahler said. "Once it is clear that there is no safety concern for the school – the lockdown lifts."
A number of parents expressed frustrations on the HCPS Facebook page that they learned about the lockdown online or from text messages from their children, rather than a robocall from the schools.
"The Harford County Sheriff's [Office] responded to the incident and has reported it was safely concluded; you may wish to reach out to them for additional details," Jillian Lader, HCPS manager of communications, wrote in an email Tuesday afternoon.
"The lockdown was very brief as the HCSD reported it had safely concluded," Lader continued. "All schools are on normal operating hours; Edgewood High School is taking an additional precaution of canceling all after school and evening activities, but there is no immediate threat to students."
"Parents will receive communication beyond the social media outlets that we have already implemented; calls are typically sent at dismissal time so as to share the information with parents before students arrive home," she said.
The high school, middle school and Deerfield are on the same campus off Willoughby Beach Road, about 1.3 miles from the shopping center near the corner of Route 755 and Hanson Road. Edgewood Elementary is off Cedar Lane, near Route 755, a quarter mile from the shopping center.