Ryder: Alleged threat to Hempstead school a hoax

Students and staff at Lawrence Road Middle School in Hempstead sheltered in place on Monday due to an alleged threat that Nassau police later determined was a hoax.

Nassau Police Commissioner Patrick Ryder said in a news conference later that a school official received a call from someone saying they were being threatened. He said the school official "immediately pressed the Rave app, which is in all of our school districts here in Nassau County," referring to the digital panic button.

Ryder said the caller reported: "I’m being held hostage in a classroom, there’s a man here with a gun."

After the caller gave a description of the classroom, Nassau police spoke with school officials to determine the room's location, Ryder said.

"It was not that classroom," he said, adding that a teacher and students were interviewed in the room where police believe the call was made. Ryder said police searched the school, room by room.

The incident was reported at 1:30 p.m. from the school and students and staff sheltered in place for 90 minutes, police said. Students were dismissed from school for the day, police said.

Police believe the incident was a hoax, Ryder said, because a Hempstead detective said similar incidents in other areas were going "viral on TikTok."

"This is no joke," Ryder said of the police response to a fake threat. "Someone could be seriously hurt here or killed in this process."

Uniondale Superintendent Monique Darrisaw-Akil called the event "a very stressful and anxiety-provoking situation."

She said of the school's notification of parents: "We do all that we can to make sure that our students and staff are safe and so that was our first priority. We communicate with our families as soon as possible. We want to make sure we provide accurate, timely information and I believe we did that today."

Police in Nassau and Suffolk as well as school districts have previously said in December they were boosting security as a precaution against unfounded online social media threats.