On October 3 during lunch, LM students were caught off guard when Principal Dr. Michael Johnson spoke on the intercom, instructing everyone to head to their advisory rooms. Within seconds, an open lunch period turned into confusion as the school entered lockdown.
Prior to the initiation of the lockdown, students were spread throughout the building, including hallways, classrooms, and the cafeteria. Jhanak Chatnani ’28 recalled, “I was sitting in front of the gym… We heard some weird noise over the speaker system, but I chalked it up to a malfunction. We continued talking, but then the beeping/sirens started, and the area around us became absolute chaos. The other people who were sitting around us were screaming and running away, thinking there was an active shooter inside the building.”
Some students exited the school building when the announcement was made, following what they understood as the “run, hide, fight” procedure. Staff members quickly directed those students back inside. Amit Brenner ’26 said, “With the way people were reacting and just the little amount of information we were given, I sort of thought there was an active shooter in the building, and I kind of didn’t take my chances with staying in a super exposed room, so my friend and I ran out, and then we were scolded for leaving.”
Nir Farkas ’27 said, “There is a thing we do when danger is present [lockdown procedure]. The police has decided ‘there is danger.’ And if there is danger anywhere, this isn’t the time to play goddamn broken telephone and go, ‘Nah, it’s not enough of a danger, so let’s make the procedure as we go.’”
Students experienced the lockdown differently depending on where they were located in the building. Claire Evans ’26, who ran to the choir room, said, “I believed we were in an active shooter situation, because that’s what incites a lockdown. We all sped-walked out to our advisories—we now had too much adrenaline to walk slowly. I managed to get to my advisory on the third floor, but I know some people got pulled into other classrooms first. In my advisory, we all knew that we weren’t in danger, so we were all talking, watching the news feed of what was happening, and generally just coming down from the adrenaline rush.”
Students learned the threat was miles away only after the lockdown began. Many found out there was no active shooter through teachers or parents. Evans explained, “[The chorus teacher] Mr. Hunnex was outside of his office and saw us all come in. He had read the email sent to teachers and told us, ‘It’s not here; there was an armed robbery somewhere else, and this is a precaution. You’re going to go to your advisories.’”
Chatnani added, “My friend was able to get her mom on the phone just as we were about to reach our advisories, but a group of four teachers blocked our way and told us to get into one of their classrooms immediately. I protested, saying my room was two doors down, but we ended up going into one of the rooms. As we walked in, my friend’s mom was telling her about the police chase happening nearby.”
Although there was no direct threat inside the school, several students said the experience affected how they felt afterward. Chatnani said, “My mind was still thinking that if someone came inside the school, we shouldn’t be in the front of the classroom, but since we were basically the last people in the room, we ended up kind of in the middle. The teacher whose room we were in had no idea about why we went into lockdown, just that we did, so he was asking around, and my friend then said what her mom told her about.”
Students stayed in lockdown for about two hours before the school was put on “active shut-out.”
When asked if this experience affected how safe they felt in school, Leo Reid ’28 answered, “Yes, I don’t know if I trust Dr. Johnson in the same way I used to. I used to have some respect for Dr. Johnson, and I thought he was a chill guy, not anymore. I also wish at least someone would apologize for causing this confusion because we are taught ACES [expectations] here, and the first letter of ACES is accountability. But I haven’t seen anyone from the Lower Merion High School administration take accountability.”
Evans said, “I don’t think the school communicated clearly.” The school had emailed teachers about the situation twelve minutes prior to the announcement, but “they didn’t have any way of ensuring that all teachers had read the email, so teachers weren’t on the same page or informed about what was happening.” Johnson did not announce the danger was in fact not inside of the school to students via intercom, leading many students to flee the building. “They weren’t told that school was the safer place to be, and they were put at more risk because the nature of the emergency wasn’t communicated clearly and efficiently,” Evans continued.
Mia Tatar ’28 commented, “It is difficult to oftentimes convey what’s going on without, like, causing mass panic, but had that danger been directly outside the school, I can imagine kids who ran would have been hurt or killed, and it just shows that they really need to fix the lockdown procedures.”
Some students felt the administration handled the situation as best as possible under the circumstances. Katie Potts-Drew ’26 explained, “I don’t think it is fair to be so harsh on [administration]. We do lockdown drills, but it would be unrealistic to do regular drills every time a lockdown would happen, like during lunch or in between classes… Realistically, we can’t be one hundred percent prepared for every situation… I think it’s valid that people were upset about how things were handled in the moment, but at the end of the day everything worked out; there was no active threat in the building, which was at the very least attempted to be communicated, and hopefully changes are being made to avoid conflicts like this in the future.”
Lilly Martin ’26 thought “people were too harsh on the admin,” and that she acknowledged the silver lining of the situation and how it “warned the school of their faults when it comes to drills.” However, she admitted, “I think the admin could have done better with communicating with parents.”
According to Captain John E. Tucci of the Lower Merion Police Department, “While we cannot discuss our tactical operations or those of other agencies during an incident of this nature, the school district will be provided with relevant details. The police may make a recommendation regarding a lockdown, but the school district has the final say on whether they will initiate one and, if so, which schools will be affected.”
Johnson stated that “law enforcement communicated to schools that they should go into lockdown.” Mr. Tyrone Ross, principal of Cynwyd Elementary, explained that “We received a call from law enforcement to place our school on lockdown due to an issue in the community.”
Ross said, “I made three school-wide announcements informing the students and staff that we are going into a lockdown due to an issue that is happening outside in the community and that there is no threat inside the building. I also followed up with an email to the staff shortly after the announcement stating the same thing.” At LM, however, there was no widespread knowledge of what the incident was when the lockdown began.
While the lockdown was taking place at schools, police activity was occurring nearby the home of Pip Mastaglio ’27, who said, “The man was arrested behind a house across my street.” She added that there were police in her yard because they “thought that the man had cut through…after being seen on the Cynwyd Heritage Trail.” Mastaglio described seeing “multiple police officers, possibly SWAT, armed and with police dogs” patrolling her house and the area around it. “They ended up finding out that the shooter had cut through one of my neighbors’ property while they were in their front yard and had seen him run past,” she said.
Johnson said that the district conducted a review following the incident. “There are emergency procedures in place, many of which we practice (i.e. fire drill, lockdown, etc.); however, the most important “procedure” for students is situational awareness and to be responsive to directions that are given.”
When asked how he would respond to student and parent frustrations, Johnson said, “I can understand and have heard those concerns. Our first priority is ensuring the safety of students and staff. Communication to people outside of the school comes next. It is important to understand that what can be communicated may be limited by the amount of information that is shared by law enforcement. After the incident, superintendent Dr. Frank Ranelli and cabinet-level administrators conducted a post-incident review and assessment to critically evaluate the incident response. Ranelli and LMPD Superintendent Andy Block are collaborating to identify aspects of both organizations’ responses that will be improved.” He added, “This incident provided us with a valuable opportunity to further improve and refine our practices, as we continue to prioritize the safety of students and staff.” Acknowledging things could have been communicated differently, Johnson said that details about updated emergency procedures would be shared in a future advisory.
For many students, October 3 became a day defined by uncertainty and questions about safety procedures. Conversations for the rest of the day often began with “Where were you during the lockdown?” rather than the typical hello. The event prompted discussion among students, staff, and administrators about how communication can be improved in future emergencies.
