On Friday, Sept 6, North Street School principal Jill Flood emailed families to say that she received calls from several parents around 1:30pm reporting seeing a SWAT Team and multiple police cars in the vicinity of the school.
She added, “the story circulating at the time was the suspect had not been apprehended and may have been armed.”
“While the Greenwich Police did not believe there was any danger to North Street School, our team made the decision, using an abundance of caution, to bring all of the students who were outside at recess back in to the building and we did not allow any further activity outside,” Ms Flood wrote in her email to NSS families.
The students continued with a normal day inside the building and dismissal proceeded as normal.
Flood asked parents not to be alarmed if they saw a continued police presence on North Street.
On Monday during the regular press briefing, Lt John Slusarz said there were abundant rumors circulating on Friday about what had happened on North Street.
“We had a report of a burglary in progress on North Street, and we responded,” Slusarz explained. “The person who had tried to break into the house was already long gone.”
Slusarz said parents might have seen the police canine, but he pointed out, “That is our normal response.”
He also pointed out that North Street is a major north-south artery, and that when the fire department responds to calls they often send three to four trucks up North Street.
“When police respond to a crime in progress, we usually send three to four officers so that’s three or four cars because they don’t have partners,” he added.
As for the incident attempted burglary on Friday, Slusarz said, “It was just an attempt. Nothing was stolen.”