POTTSVILLE -- Police have arrested a suspect who they say caused a nerve-racking day for county workers and every school district in Schuylkill County.
Some voice mails threatened terroristic violence at an unspecified school unless county leaders shut down the courthouse in Pottsville.
The courthouse was closed before noon.
Pottsville police say they now have Todd Dohner, 48, of Pine Grove in custody for those threatening phone calls. They believe he's the one who left two voice mails for the Schuylkill County Courthouse overnight.
Police say he identified himself as a terrorist and demanded the Schuylkill County Courthouse to shut down by noon. If not, investigators say the caller threatened that he and his terrorist group would shoot up a school.
Students at the Saint Clair Area Elementary School in Schuylkill County left school early. This school along with a few others in the county had an early dismissal.
Every school district in Schuylkill County was either on lockdown or took extra security measures, all because of two messages left on the Schuylkill County Courthouse's voice mail.
Police say a male caller identified himself as a terrorist and demanded the county shut down the courthouse. That caller was later identified as Dohner.
As a precaution, the Schuylkill County Courthouse did close around 11:30 a.m. and all the county workers were sent home.
Shalette Jones from Hazleton drove to the courthouse to bail out her son. She hadn't heard about the possible threat.
"We came all the way over here and now we don't know what we're supposed to do."
County commissioners say the caller of that threat demanded that the Schuylkill County Courthouse be closed by noon, if not, that caller also indicated there could be possible violence at a school.
"Everybody was on their phones finding it out, nervous, scared," said Pottsville sophomore Kirkland Zelanko.
While the school was locked down, many parents came to pick their students up. Zelanko's mother decided to get her children home safe herself.
"I feel safe, like I said, I just have to get my daughter now, too," Tammy Zelanko said.
She wished she knew about the threats sooner.
"As a parent, I just feel that if the messages were left overnight, I should have known about it this morning. I shouldn't have had to read about it on Facebook."
Police say Dohner acted alone and was picked up Friday afternoon in the Pine Grove area.