Elm Middle School went on soft lockdown Thursday morning and four students were taken to the hospital after a student accidentally discharged pepper spray in a classroom, school and police authorities said.
Elmwood Park Community Unit School District 401 sent an email to parents Thursday afternoon saying that at approximately 11:15 a.m., pepper spray accidentally discharged in one of the classrooms at the middle school, 7607 West Cortland Street.
Elmwood Park Police Chief Frank Fagiano said a female student at the school accidentally discharged the pepper spray and that it was “not sprayed at anybody.” He also said school officials and an officer in the juvenile division of the police department interviewed the girl to try and determine where she got the spray.
“I was there,” he said. “It was not an ‘intentional’ spray.”
Fagiano said four students were taken to the hospital for treatment of minor injuries and that the rest of the students in the classroom where the pepper spray went off were released to their parents and went home.
The district’s email to parents said the school was placed on a soft lockdown while paramedics, police officers and the fire department assessed all students who were affected.
“We are currently investigating the incident and following our discipline and safety protocol measures., the email continued. “Anybody needing medical treatment was assessed and treated appropriately. Families of impacted students were contacted prior to this going out and the soft lockdown was lifted.”
Fagiano said the fire department checked and treated the children in the affected classroom. “The school was back in service as soon as the last parent picked up their child,” he said.
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He also said the department received many calls from the media on the incident and that false information on it has already popped up on social media.
“Now we’re going to have to deal with the aftermath of the rumors that are going to fly out there,” he said.