Church and school near East Lansdowne, Delaware County, shooting, fire sheltered in place as chaos unfolded
EAST LANSDOWNE, Pa. (CBS) -- Parents of children who go to school and daycare in the East Lansdowne area are thankful they stayed safe while the chaos unfolded Wednesday afternoon.
Two officers were shot during an active shooter situation and a house fire left six people presumed to be dead. So far, Delaware County District Attorney Jack Stollsteimer said they've recovered three human remains from the scene.
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Outside Faith Emmanuel Lutheran Church and Daycare, Christmas lights are still hanging along with crime scene tape following the chaos.
"It was many sounds, helicopter over head – pop, pop, pop, gun sounds," Pastor Moses Dennis said.
Pastor Dennis was in the church down the street from the home where gunfire erupted and a fire broke out. He said two concerned neighbors came to the church for shelter.
"Literally ran in, these two went here, frightened, and went in the basement," Pastor Dennis said.
Forty children were also in the basement of the daycare and sheltered in place – something they had practiced.
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"So we just locked down," Pastor Dennis said. "We closed the door, and we waited to get some guidance."
Just a few blocks down the road, students at Vision Academy Charter School were in the process of dismissal when the school went into lockdown.
"Any student that was in the recess yard or outside the building, we had them get inside the building immediately," Thomas Coll, the principal of Vision Academy, said.
Coll said once they heard there were gunshots, they quickly locked down and worked to send parents an alert within five minutes. Kids remained calm for the most part, he said.
"A few of them were crying and some of them weren't sure why they were crying," Coll said.
They stayed in lockdown for two hours. On Thursday, it was still the talk of the school.
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"Students have been scared and they've been concerned," Coll said. "Some of them know the people who may have been in danger yesterday. This morning, we had a community circle to field questions and open discussion."
Trauma counselors and psychologists were brought in Thursday to help kids process the situation.
And despite the lives lost in Wednesday's tragedy, Pastor Dennis is thankful more children weren't among them.
"All of us were safe," Pastor Dennis said. "We all were able to go home, especially the children and staff were able to go home safe."
Both Pastor Dennis and Cole said they are thankful that they had already practiced shelter and place procedures. They just never thought they'd have to put them into action.
