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Report Of Suspicious Person Leads To Shelter-In-Place Order For Two Fairfield County Schools

A person deemed suspicious who was walking on school grounds in Fairfield County led to shelter-in-place orders for two buildings to allow police to investigate.

Staples High School

Staples High School

Photo Credit: Wikimedia Commons/WestportWiki

On Thursday, May 19 in Westport, the police department's school security officer, and Staples School resource officer investigated a report of a suspicious person on school grounds.

According to a spokesperson from the Westport Police Department, an unknown suspect - believed to be in his teens - was dropped off at the Bedford Middle School, but the person then left that campus and walked towards Staples High School.

The spokesperson said that the incident was deemed suspicious because at the time no one recognized the teen, and it was unknown what he was doing on school property.

"Out of an abundance of caution,” the school’s superintendent placed both Bedford Middle School and Staples High School in a shelter-in-place status.

“Several patrol officers responded to make sure the students at both schools were kept safe and to look for this unknown person,” police said. “Westport detectives also went to the scene and worked with school officials to attempt to identify the party.

It was ultimately determined that the person in question was a Staples student who was running late and after managing to get a ride to the middle school, walked to the high school.

“This was the best possible outcome,” Westport Police Chief Foti Koskinas said, adding that “the timely resolution of this incident is a testament to the excellent working relationship that the police department has with the school system.”

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