A Cicero high school was placed on lockdown for several hours Tuesday as students and staff were told no one could enter or exit the building.
Morton High School District 201 wrote on Facebook that Morton East High School was being placed on lockdown but “students and staff are safe inside our building.”
“Please understand that no one is allowed in or out of the building. Thank you,” the message read just before 11 a.m.
Police said they were called to the school after a student reported another person had "told her he had an automatic weapon in his possession." The school said any claims of a potential active shooter were inaccurate.
"Please be assured that there is NOT an active shooter," the district wrote. "Morton East is on a Precautionary Lockdown. Updates will be forthcoming."
Cicero Police Chief Jerry Chlada praised the student for "doing the right thing" and said officers conducted "a thorough search of the school and concluded there never was a real threat to any of the students and the report of a student holding a weapon turned out to not be true."
“At no time were any of the students at Morton East in any danger,” Chlada said in a statement. “But we don’t take anything like this for granted and we did a thorough investigation before concluding the reports of someone with a weapon were not true.”
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The school had been scheduled for a half day Tuesday and students were dismissed shortly after 1 p.m.
"After an investigation, it was concluded that there was no danger found in the building," the district wrote.
Check back for more on this developing story.
