Worshipers Flee Newtown Church Over Bomb Threat

Worshipers fled from a church in Newtown on Sunday, citing a bomb threat, just a few miles away from the Sandy Hook elementary school where 20 children and six adults were gunned down on Friday.

After the worshipers fled from the church, more than a dozen police in camouflage and SWAT gear carrying guns arrived at the church, reports Fox News.

The church, St. Rose of Lima, is the same church the shooter, his mother, and eight of the children killed Friday attended. It is a Roman Catholic Church with an adjacent school. A reporter with the Associated Press saw police leave the building carrying something in a red tarp.

There has been no official confirmation by police about either the threat or the evacuation. It is also not clear if there was really a threat or if it was actually a hoax or even the result of a community on edge. Reuters also reported seeing state troopers, police, and ambulances arrive at the Catholic church after the reported bomb threat.

The church in question hosted overflow crowds at all three morning masses it held on Sunday. The church is one of the central places in the community, which was rocked on Friday by the second worst school shooting in US history.

Twenty kids, all of which were either six or seven, lost their lives in the massacre, along with six adults. The shooter, who has not been officially named by the police, also killed his mother and himself.

WRCB-TV notes that NBC News is reporting local officials gave the “all clear” at the scene at 1:20 pm EST.