Threat To Sandy Hook School Thursday Morning 'Not Credible': Police

NEWTOWN, CT — Newtown police are actively investigating a "third party threat toward Sandy Hook School" made Thursday morning, but are assuring residents there were no credible threats to Newtown schools on Thursday.

Police heard of the threat at 9:15 a.m., according to a statement released Thursday afternoon. Officers responded to the threat while school staff followed their standard safety and lockdown precautions, police said.

The police "quickly determined that all students and staff were safe and that the threat was not credible." The episode was instead similar to a "swatting" incident, police said. These are prank calls to emergency services made in an attempt to bring about the dispatch of a large number of armed police officers to a particular address.

Police say they performed a thorough check of the school and surrounding area "out of an abundance of caution," and were certain nothing suspicious or out of the ordinary had occurred.

"We would like to thank our officers and Board of Education staff for their quick action and consistent professionalism in acting on our emergency procedures," police officials said.

The Newtown Police Department's investigation into the incident continues with the assistance of federal law enforcement agencies, police said.

An attack by a lone gunman on Dec. 14, 2012, left 26 people dead and 2 injured at Sandy Hook School.