A scare at Parkland High School in Allentown on Friday turned out to be a false alarm.
The school was evacuated after a phone call came in at 4:45 p.m. describing suspicious activity on school grounds.
Initial reports said there was an intruder wearing camouflage pants and a vest with something "bulky" underneath, according to police.
Late Friday, Lehigh County authorities held a press conference where they announced there was no threat. "As it turned out, there was no one in the school building," said District Attorney Jim Martin.
Martin added that the suspicious activity turned out to be a student who was "exercising."
Police say a teacher made the call because she saw someone wearing military-type clothing who was profusely sweating. The individual apparently walked up to a flagpole, saluted and said a prayer before running off.
Police say that description was enough to activate emergency response teams and evacuate the building. "She saw something that struck her as being suspicious and she did the exact correct thing, she alerted the police," said Martin.
After hours of searching, police say they located the individual in question by phone and realized he had done nothing wrong.
The evacuation happened during a school volleyball and field hockey game. There were also students using the pool, according to Superintendent of Schools Rich Sniscak.
"This was quite an event that had a lot of people on their toes and obviously the safety of our children was first and foremost," said Sniscak.
