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US: Albuquerque schools reopen, student admits lying

Three Albuquerque schools were locked down and SWAT teams searched the area around a middle school Thursday before an eighth-grader admitted she lied about seeing a man with a knife on campus, police said.

The schools were reopened in late morning after authorities determined 13-year-old Julie McEwen's story was phony and there was no threat.

The girl, whose family recently had moved from California, said she made up the story because she didn't like her new school, said police spokesman Trish Hoffman. She will face a misdemeanor charge in juvenile court of filing a false police report, Hoffman said.

McEwen reported that a man dressed in all black had approached her brandishing a knife outside James Monroe Middle School, prompting a massive police response and the lockdown of school and two nearby elementary schools within a mile.

Students remained inside classrooms as an Albuquerque police SWAT team -- along with officers from the school district, Bernalillo County Sheriff's Department and Rio Rancho Department of Public Safety -- responded to the middle school, Hoffman said.

Deadly attacks at schools in Pennsylvania and Colorado in recent weeks gave authorities little leeway in how to respond Thursday, Albuquerque Public Schools spokesman Joseph Escobedo said.


Copyright 2006 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

Posted by: SoulRiser
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Posted in: News on October 13, 2006 @ 12:00 AM

Tags: School

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