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Parents experience anxiety, sighs of relief

Guardians flocked to campus to retrieve students

By Rachel Foor 6 min read

After Monday's school shooting in Nashville that left six people dead, a report of an active shooter at Altoona Area High School on Wednesday morning had anxious parents and guardians flocking to the campus to pick up their children.

While the call -- one among dozens across the state -- turned out to be a hoax, parents and guardians were on edge.

Diane Ryan, who has two children in the district, said that she received multiple calls and texts from the district about the situation.

"Those are texts you never want to get, because for some parents (in other districts), that was the last text they got (from their children)," Ryan said. "My heart breaks for those parents who didn't get to pick their kids up. I feel that we were very lucky."

Ryan's daughter Lauryn, a sophomore at the high school, described the lockdown as "very scary" because students "had no idea what was going on."

Students hid in the dark, crying and listening to the police scanner to try to get more information, Lauryn said.

"They kept coming on the loudspeaker every four minutes to say it was not a drill," Lauryn said. "I was very relieved it was a hoax -- it was definitely a scary experience. I hope it doesn't happen again."

Jillian Alleman, an eighth grader in the district, had a similar experience, saying that while students are used to active shooter drills, this time it was a full-on lockdown.

"They usually say that they're a drill, but this one kid pointed out that the announcement hadn't said it was a drill," Jillian said, saying that's when she began to feel anxious.

Jillian described hearing police searching the building, yelling in the hallways to identify themselves as being with the Altoona Police Department and checking everywhere for the potential shooter. She said that some students were trapped in the bathrooms, with some teachers running into the hallway to try to retrieve them once the alarm sounded.

"The gym classes didn't know something was going on," Jillian said. "They just kept playing badminton, and then the police went in and everyone hid in the locker rooms."

'It's OK'

Jillian's mom, Stacy Alleman, was on hand at the district's Fieldhouse to pick up Jillian and her other two children.

Alleman said one of her daughters texted her saying she was in chemistry class and that, "it's OK, we have access to chemicals."

"It's sad knowing that she had to think like that, to have to come up with a plan to protect herself," Alleman said.

Richard Patrick was also in line at the district's Fieldhouse to pick up his two stepdaughters. He said that by the time he heard what was going on, investigators had already declared it a hoax.

"I went from concerned to unconcerned pretty quickly," Patrick said. "I heard about everything that was going on in about a five-minute span."

Bobby Conrad, who was waiting for her grandchildren to meet her, similarly said the situation was largely uneventful for her due to the quick actions of the district and police.

"You always hope it doesn't happen in your area and feel for the ones where it does," Conrad said.

Quick response lauded

Those in line at the school buildings to pick up their children lauded the Altoona Police Department and the school district's administration and staff for their fast response time, with Patrick saying it was "pretty damn good."

Alleman, Conrad and Ryan echoed those sentiments, as they all described the district and police as being "quick" and "very responsive."

"I feel like the school is safe," Alleman said. "There is a large security and police presence. I can't thank everyone enough for keeping the kids safe."

"They handled it pretty well," Ryan said. "Just with all the news lately, it's always something that's on your mind. Today was scary, it brought it to our area."

The Altoona Police Department received hundreds of comments on its Facebook post regarding the incident and its resolution, with nearly all of them praising the department and thanking them for protecting the students.

One commenter, identified as Eric Leigh Umfress, wrote that he was happy it was a false alarm that was still treated so seriously.

"Although it was a hoax, it showed the APD don't f*** around and hopefully it can be viewed as a practice run of a situation that I pray never, ever has to be addressed for real," Umfress wrote.

Another commenter, Angela Marie, thanked the department for keeping her son safe in the high school.

"Being at work as a nurse and being powerless over this situation as a parent is a horrible feeling," Marie wrote. "Knowing APD acted swiftly makes me feel secure things were handled appropriately."

Joe Sutton also commented, saying he was at the magistrate's office in Altoona when the call came in about a potential shooter at the school.

"Every single cop in the building ran out of that building and toward the perceived danger without hesitation," Sutton wrote. "As a defense attorney, I often am on the other side of the police on cases. But seeing the officers react that way this morning was inspiring."

Altoona police urged parents to talk with their children, as the day's events could be traumatizing.

Actions recognized

Wednesday evening, APD took to Facebook to recognize "the actions of the students, teachers, school police officers, school security and all other AASD staff."

Without going into details, the post stated, "there wasn't a single responding officer who wasn't thoroughly impressed with the security measures that were already in place upon our rapid entry into the building. Parents/guardians should truly be proud of their students and teachers."

"All Blair County law enforcement responded today thinking that this was the real deal," the post read. "Today was as close as it could possibly get to the real thing, but also know that even though it was a hoax, we're coming just as hard every time to protect our children."

Mirror Staff Writer Rachel Foor is at 814-946-7458.

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