NORRIDGEWOCK — Maine State Police said there was no threat at Mill Stream Elementary School Monday morning.

The school went into a lockdown after two first-graders said they had seen a threatening man with a rifle outside the school.

“After the students were interviewed, it was determined that no gun had been seen,” according to a statement from Steve McCausland, spokesman for the Maine Department of Public Safety.

A state trooper and school district guidance counselors will be on hand at the school for the rest of the day, which has been reopened.

The school went into lockdown mode at about 8:30 this morning, he said.

No threat was found by the nearly three dozen law enforcement officers who went to the school on U.S. Route 2, he said.

The roadway was clogged with the vehicles of anxious parents who arrived on the scene after receiving word about the lockdown from the schools automated message system.  Others saw the police presence and yellow caution tape surrounding the school and stopped to see what was happening.

They gathered in a crowd outside the school, where troopers gave them information about what was going on, and told them that the threat had been unfounded.

Many parents chose to take their students home.

The school is part of School Administrative District 54, which operates schools in Canaan, Cornville, Mercer, Skowhegan and Smithfield.

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