Lockdown lifted after ‘knife’ determined to be vape pen

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NAUGATUCK — Administrators placed Naugatuck High School into a partial lockdown Monday afternoon after a student reported seeing another student with what looked like a kitchen knife in a stairwell.

It turned out to be a vape pen, not a knife.

In an email, Naugatuck High School Principal John Harris said the school went into a partial code yellow lockdown at about 12 p.m. A code yellow means students need to clear the hallways and remain in their classrooms.

Security footage showed the student believed to be carrying a knife leave the building and head toward Rubber Avenue, Harris wrote.

When police officers caught up with the student near Cherry Street about 30 minutes later, it was determined he had a vape pen and not a knife, Naugatuck police Lt. Bryan Cammarata said.

School officials lifted the lockdown after police found the student with the vape pen.

Police didn’t arrest the student, Cammarata said. The student was referred to the Juvenile Review Board for illegally possessing a vape pen on school grounds, he said.

Harris thanked students and staff for acting quickly when they thought there was a chance of danger.

“We owe a massive thank you to a few students who saw something and said something, and another thank you to all students and staff for responding to the code yellow appropriately so that we could ensure the safety of everyone in the building,” Harris wrote in the email.