First Son Barron Trump’s school went into lockdown mode Monday morning after a suspicious package was discovered outside the facility.
A military-style bag was inside a 1993 beat-up Chevrolet pick-up truck parked outside Barron’s private school, Columbia Grammar & Preparatory School, located in Manhattan’s Upper East Side near Central Park. The vehicle had an Indiana license plate.
The call about the suspicious package at Barron Trump’s school came into authorities around 10 a.m. Officials soon placed the school on lockdown, New York Daily News reports.
“My teacher had no clue what was going on but he was just saying ‘Be quiet,’” said a senior at the school who asked not to be identified.
Barron Trump’s prep school put on lockdown due to suspicious truck, police say: https://t.co/LdIq1cDq4E pic.twitter.com/1TbVwIh7Sp
— DNAinfo New York (@DNAinfoNY) March 13, 2017
The senior said a few girls were scared and got Snapchats from their friends saying there was a bomb threat. One girl was extremely distraught, and a teacher had to calm her down, the senior shares.
“She was bugging out,” he explained. “The teacher was calming her down saying, ‘We’re safe, just wait it out.’”
Students at Barron Trump’s school had practiced lockdown drills before but were notified in advance by the principal before it was carried out. The senior told Daily News that this was the first real lockdown.
The senior at Barron Trump’s school continued that in a lockdown, classroom lights are shut off and students go under tables and huddle in corners and must be silent.
According to the report, police located the owner of the truck and the lockdown was lifted at 10:45 a.m. after NYPD’s Bomb Squad confirmed the situation was safe. Authorities had the truck towed off the street.
The phone call about a suspicious package at Barron Trump’s school originated from a passerby. Secret Service agents were guarding the building outside until officials had a handle on things.
#BREAKING : This is the scene of the suspicious package at the Barron Trump’s school. (Photo by @NYCityAlerts ) pic.twitter.com/Sl9sR9kBQR
— BreakingNewsHQ1 (@BreakingNewsHQ1) March 13, 2017
It’s unknown if Barron was in attendance at school today and no other information on why the truck was parked at the school has been given.
The private school hasn’t commented on the lockdown.
At a meeting with the Secret Service, one parent described the officers’ responses as “evasive.” https://t.co/ywQki8Uyld
— Heat Street (@heatstreet) December 7, 2016
The alarming incident undoubtedly shook up parents of students enrolled at Columbia given the fact they voiced their concerns shortly after the 2016 election. When it was revealed that Melania and Barron Trump wouldn’t move to Washington, D.C. until summer, there was worry about safety at the school. As a previous Inquisitr article detailed, Secret Service members had a meeting with parents, who feared Barron’s presence at the school made it a target for terrorists . On top of that, the parents and staff weren’t happy about the intrusion and commotion involved having the first son arrive at the school because it snarled traffic and presented other obstacles.
Barron is dropped off and picked up from school in an SUV with Secret Service every day. Not much has been reported about Barron since Inauguration Day on January 20, but some reports have indicated that Melania doesn’t always pick up her son, ostensibly a means of getting her son to and from school with minimum fuss since more Secret Service is called for when she’s accompanying the 10-year-old.
Once Barron Trump finishes out this school year, he and his mother will move to the White House. It was important to his parents that his current year at the school not disrupted, especially since the presidential campaign was reportedly difficult for him.
[Featured Image by Win McNamee/Getty Images]
