City officials told the St. Marys City Council that a recent citywide school lockdown prompted coordinated responses from local police, mutual aid agencies and federal partners, and that training and drills prepared staff and officers for the event.

"I'm proud of the way our officers responded," Chief Turpin told the council, praising police performance during the lockdown and the cooperation of schools and first responders. City staff said mutual aid was provided by county agencies and the highway patrol.

Chief Turpin said investigators traced the anonymous threat to a phone that used a VPN and an "area-based Google phone," and that early tracking showed the signal pointing to Europe; federal partners, including the FBI, were involved in the post-incident inquiry. "FBI was able to do some tracking with the VPN, and the whole time it was showing that it was in Europe," Chief Turpin said. City staff said the FBI and the Fusion Center (a regional information-sharing center linked to the Department of Homeland Security) were notified quickly.

Council members and staff said feedback from school administrators, teachers and staff was positive and that the incident showed training paid off. No suspect location was reported in the transcript and no arrests or charges were announced during the council meeting.

Why this matters: School lockdowns trigger emergency response protocols and public concern. Officials said the multiagency response and existing training reassured school staff and families, but the transcript records no final law-enforcement conclusion about the threat's origin or any ongoing criminal process.