Columbine in lockdown over threat

Columbine High School – the scene of the infamous 1999 massacre in which 12 students and one teacher were shot dead – was in lockdown last night after police alerts of a suspicious person in the area.

Students at the Colorado school and nearby suburban Denver schools were being kept inside.

A person was reported to have called yesterday claiming to have placed explosive devices in the school and to be hiding outside with a gun.

A large police presence and a bomb disposal truck were dispatched to the area. Police said there had been nothing to validate the threat.