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Early Tuesday morning, Osceola County School of the Arts in Kissimmee, Florida, went on lockdown after a “suspicious person,” who was later determined to be a maintenance worker, was supposedly spotted on campus, with SWAT and police K-9 teams arriving on scene at the school. On social media, many of the students shared videos of their first-hand account of the incident on social media.
What happened?
The school was placed on lockdown during the investigation, in which it has been determined that the “suspicious person” that instigated the incident was really a maintenance worker for the school. According to the Orlando Sentinel, sheriff’s Major Jacob Ruiz released the following statement concerning the incident:
“The investigation revealed the suspicious person was actually an employee and there was never an unauthorized person on campus. There were no direct threats received to the school or anyone within the campus.”
Dana Schafer, a spokeswoman for the school district, confirmed that the person was an employee with the district’s Maintenance Department; she added in the following statement:
“At no time were students and staff in danger.”
What could be seen in the video?
In addition to videos released on social media, a 45-minute Periscope video has also been released online. As can be heard, the PA system announces at one point that it’s all clear, telling students to continue their day as normal.
On social media, many students gave their first-hand account of what had happened:
“This is so scary, I should be in acting class rn having fun. Please please be safe everyone. I know we’ll be okay, but this should not be something students have to worry about daily.”
“This SHOULD NOT be my learning environment.”