Terrified Long Island students forced to finish finals as armed police swept halls during chaotic lockdown

Students inside a Long Island high school said they were left terrified and confused during the response to a hoax shooting threat Thursday — and some said they were even forced to keep taking their tests as armed officers cleared the building room by room.Teens inside Long Beach High School said they had no idea what was going on when the school went into lockdown, and described a chaotic scene of panicking students barricading themselves into classrooms or hiding under their desk for hours as cops stormed the halls.Some students, who were only in school to take a test that day, said they were watched over by heavily-armed officers with loaded rifles as they were forced to finish, unable to focus on the exam and still unaware of what was happening.“Typically you stop the test and go hide,” senior Nick Melnikov, who was in the gym taking a Spanish final when the lockdown went into full-effect said.

“But they were like ‘nah go finish your test,’ and then the cops walked in and were watching over us with guns as we took our test.”Melnikov, whose exam was scheduled to end at 10:30 a.m., said he wasn’t allowed to leave until 2:30 p.m., stuck in the school and shuffled from room to room for hours after finishing his test.Other students, like senior Sophia Ferrera, were in class when the lockdown started and said she and her classmates spent over 90 minutes in a dark room silently hiding under their desks until police cleared them.Despite being traumatized by the situation, she said the worst part was that school officials then made students return to class as if nothing had happened.“I thought they were just going to let everyone go home,” Ferrera said, shocked that she was forced to go to her next class after that experience.“I couldn’t focus, for the rest of the day I just kind of floated.Nothing felt real,” she said.After police cleared the building, the lockdown was downgraded to a “lockout,” meaning nobody is allowed to enter or exit ...