Terrified Long Island students forced to finish finals as armed police swept halls during chaotic lockdown
Students inside a Long Island high school said they were left terrified and confused during the response to a hoax shooting threat Thursday — and some said they were even forced to keep taking their tests as armed officers cleared the building room by room.
Teens inside Long Beach High School said they had no idea what was going on when the school went into lockdown, and described a chaotic scene of panicking students barricading themselves into classrooms or hiding under their desk for hours as cops stormed the halls.
Some students, who were only in school to take a test that day, said they were watched over by heavily-armed officers with loaded rifles as they were forced to finish, unable to focus on the exam and still unaware of what was happening.
'Typically you stop the test and go hide,' senior Nick Melnikov, who was in the gym taking a Spanish final when the lockdown went into full-effect said. 'But they were like 'nah go finish your test,' and then the cops walked in and were watching over us with guns as we took our test.'
Melnikov, whose exam was scheduled to end at 10:30 a.m., said he wasn't allowed to leave until 2:30 p.m., stuck in the school and shuffled from room to room for hours after finishing his test.
Other students, like senior Sophia Ferrera, were in class when the lockdown started and said she and her classmates spent over 90 minutes in a dark room silently hiding under their desks until police cleared them.
Despite being traumatized by the situation, she said the worst part was that school officials then made students return to class as if nothing had happened.
'I thought they were just going to let everyone go home,' Ferrera said, shocked that she was forced to go to her next class after that experience.
'I couldn't focus, for the rest of the day I just kind of floated. Nothing felt real,' she said.
After police cleared the building, the lockdown was downgraded to a 'lockout,' meaning nobody is allowed to enter or exit the building — but students arriving later in the day for their tests were being let inside all afternoon, while those inside were not allowed to leave, The Post confirmed.
The threat, which turned out to be a hoax call made from California, claimed a 15-year-old student armed with an assault rifle was targeting Long Beach High School because he was 'tired of being bullied.'
Parents, meanwhile, said they were kept in the dark throughout the entire crisis — unable to pick up their children despite seeing students enter and only learning about the situation through frantic text messages from their kids.
'I think the police handled it beautifully, but I think the school dropped the ball,' said Joe Meola, whose child barricaded herself in a classroom with a desk against the door for over two hours.
'They didn't tell any parent what was clearly happening or what our kids were actually going through — and my daughter was freaking out, she was having panic attacks and said she felt like she was going to throw up,' Meola added.
He and other parents are now questioning what would happen if a similar situation were to unfold next year, as cellphones are now banned in schools statewide.
'Next year the kids cannot have cell phones — what if something like this happens again, God forbid,' asked Mike Doty.
The Long Beach School District declined to comment.
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