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Members of the Charles County Sheriff’s Office were called to school grounds at approximately 8:45 a.m. on Tuesday, Feb. 7 to investigate the package, which was located as students were arriving to class.
As a precautionary measure on Tuesday morning, bus traffic heading to the elementary school was re-routed to Westlake High School, where they were later picked up by their parents amid the investigation into the package.
Mattawoman was placed on "hold status" for several hours, which means “all students (and) staff are inside the building, safe, and accounted for,” while the school campuses were blocked.
A massive investigation was launched including the sheriff’s office, and Maryland State Police Bomb Squad, which was also called to the scene to assist.
According to officials, the situation with the suspicious package was resolved by 1 p.m. on Tuesday afternoon when investigators determined that it was actually an empty feral cat shelter made from a plastic cooler, not a potential threat.
Schools were able to resume normal operations and dismissed students on Tuesday afternoon as normal.
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