Arrest made in shooting hoax (updated 11:20 a.m.)

Police are reporting that a 12-year-old male student at New Prague Middle School has been arrested in connection with a shooting hoax that put the school on lockdown and cancelled classes for the day throughout the district. 

The student reportedly used a deactivated cell phone to call 911 twice and report a shooting at the middle school. The school was immediately put on "Code Red" status and students there and at the Central Education Campus (CEC) were confined to their rooms. 

Police responded to a 911 call made from the school around 8 a.m. Dozens of peace officers from New Prague and other area communities, along with ambulances and the New Prague Fire Department, were called to the scene. Monitoring police radio traffic, it appeared that police were initially searching the northern part of the middle school building, near the band room and commons area. The CEC was also in a lockdown and police searched the building. The CEC houses sixth grade classrooms for the middle school. 

Parents who came to the scene were sent to the FaithPoint Lutheran Church, four blocks away on Central Avenue to wait out the lockdown.

The high school was also put on lockdown, but principal Tom Doig said it was precautionary, and that there were no problems at the school. Elementary school classes were cancelled for the day, and buses were being sent back home. A district spokesperson said that middle and high school students would be sent home at 10:30 a.m. 

More information will be posted as it becomes available, and in the March 28 edition of The Times.

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