Somers High School Put in Soft Lockdown for a Brief Period

On Tuesday afternoon, Somers High School went into a “soft lockdown” after a .22 caliber bullet was found outside the school.

Principal Gary Cotzin said that a student found the bullet outside the building, reported it to the office, and the school took precautionary measures.

Connecticut State Police and gunpowder sniffing canines were brought in and Cotzin said they checked lockers but didn’t find anything.

“In this day and age, we need to take precautions,” he said. “Everybody was very helpful. We went through our process and all things considering, it went well. I’m very proud of everybody’s response.”

He explained that a soft lockdown means that the students were kept in the classrooms - not in the hallways or changing classes - while the searches were conducted.

According to Cotzin, the students were released after an hour and 20 minutes and finished the school day before going home as scheduled.

Cotzin said that parents were kept in the loop with an e-mail about what was going on, and then a followup one when everything concluded.