This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2015, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
A cellphone mistaken for a gun put two Syracuse schools on lockdown Friday.
At about 1 p.m., an employee saw a man walking near Syracuse Junior High School, at 1450 S. 2000 West, with an object on his hip that the employee thought might be a gun, according to a Syracuse police news release. Police responded, and both the junior high and nearby Syracuse Elementary School were put on lockdown as a precautionary measure.
Police cleared both schools, and the lockdown was lifted.
Officers reviewed surveillance video and found that the man was a 23-year-old sibling of a student at the junior high, and that the object on his hip was "a large cellphone clipped to [his] pocket," according to the release.
"The man violated school policy by not checking in with the office before taking his sibling from the school," the release reads. "Syracuse Police would like to remind all citizens that if you are picking up a student from school, you must follow the policy and procedures of student pick up provided by the school to prevent incidents like this from occurring."
Anyone who is unfamiliar with a school's policies should check with the front office of the school, the release adds.
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