PORTLAND, CT (WFSB) - Students and staff inside Portland middle and high schools were locked down for nearly five hours on Monday afternoon.

In the aftermath of the incident, a two-hour delay was announced for Tuesday, as many students returned home several hours after their usual dismissal.

The school was locked down after staff received an anonymous tip through the Say Something app, Portland police said.

The tip mentioned a 7th grader at the Portland Middle School who claimed that the student was armed with a gun and made a threat.

That threat pinged off the school’s Wi-Fi and triggered a large response. That led to the lockdown of the middle and high schools.

“Having pinged off that tower, it added some credibility that there might have been a gun in the school here today,” said Officer Paul Liseo of the Portland Police Department.

The lockdown affected more than 600 students and staff. It kept them confined in classrooms and other areas while police conducted a room-by-room search.

Officers, assisted by a Meriden K9 unit and personnel from Middletown police, Glastonbury police, and Connecticut State Police, used metal detectors on students to ensure no weapons were present.

During the lockdown, 7th grader Hayden described the experience as harrowing.

As police worked to clear the building, roads surrounding the schools were blocked, and parents were left waiting for hours without clear information.

Many arrived for normal pick-up times, only to be told by the school district that the release time was uncertain.

The superintendent told parents at the time they could not confirm when students would be released from the lockdown.

“I know it was a long afternoon, and the kids got home late and it was very stressful for all parents,” said superintendent Charles Britton. “We care very much for all of our kids and I can only imagine that the waiting was excruciating.”

Later, a student came forward and revealed that the original threat was a hoax orchestrated by a 13-year-old.

The student claimed that the incident was fabricated to cause panic. That led police to conclude that there was never a credible threat.

The young suspect faces criminal charges.

Earlier this year, a number of swatting calls were made at schools around the state. One of those happened in nearby East Hampton.

A man Channel 3 spoke with is a teacher in East Hampton. He said he anxiously waited for his two sons in Portland to be let out of school.

“I was in a classroom closet with four other teachers. A couple of them were having panic attacks. We heard a loud noise down the hall, screaming from the police. So, we had no idea what was going on and it took a toll on us and the kids,” said Shawn Quinn, East Hampton teacher.

When asked how it felt knowing his boys were in a similar lockdown type of situation, Quinn said the incident was scary.

Parents who were in contact with their children during the lockdown said they were sitting and waiting in their classrooms.

One woman said her son had to stay put in a closet.

Another woman Channel 3 spoke with said she has a granddaughter in the middle school. She said she’s worried how these lockdowns will affect her and her classmates.

“I’m frightened. I’m frightened for her. I just want her to be safe and them all to be safe,” said Francine Yorker, grandmother. “I’m sorry for the kids and the teachers who have to go through this.”

Dr. Laura Saunders, a child psychologist from Hartford HealthCare, advised parents to talk to their children about the incident, but to be mindful of emotional fatigue.

“Leave it open, if they want to talk about it or not talk about it. It might be a fatigue for them, an emotional fatigue, and they have been through this for the last several ours, and they don’t want to talk about it anymore,” Saunders said.

The investigation was said to be ongoing. Authorities have been working to determine if any other individuals were involved in the hoax.