DELMAR — According to the Bethlehem Police Department, the phoned threat directed at “all God’s children” triggered a lockout to two neighboring schools early this afternoon, Wednesday, Feb. 3.
Bethlehem police said St. Thomas the Apostle School received a phone call from a private phone number at approximately 2 p.m. The unknown man on the other end of the phone call reportedly sounded “agitated” to the school employee who answered.
“All God’s children are going to pay,” police reported the man as saying. “I tried to talk to your (profane language omitted) priest,” he added, before hanging up.
“The administration immediately notified the Bethlehem Police Department. The school followed its safety plan and went into a lockout. Police advised the school to delay dismissal as they surveyed the scene,” the Roman Catholic Diocese of Albany said in a released email statement.
Both St. Thomas and Bethlehem Central Middle schools issued a lockout as several Bethlehem police patrol cars were parked outside each school. Bethlehem Central Middle School is less than a quarter-mile away on Kenwood Avenue.
The lockouts were released approximately an hour later. Police remained at each corner and enterance of St. Thomas as students were observed being escorted to their parents’ cars.
Parents who arrived at the school said they were unaware of any details.
Once the lockout was released, Bethlehem Central released a robocall alert to district families to warn of delays as bus routes running from the middle school to area elementary schools. The recorded message told parents that the threat was “unfounded” by police. Nonetheless, students who normally walked home from the middle school were assigned to buses.
St. Thomas the Apostle is located less than a quarter-mile from Delmar’s Four Corners. The private, Catholic school enrolls approximately 234 students between kindergarten and eighth grade. Bethlehem Central Middle School has approximately 1,000 students enrolled between sixth and eighth grade.
Bethlehem police is conducting an investigation. According to the diocese, police will be at St. Thomas tomorrow.