Misunderstanding Draws Police Activity on Church Hill

Newtown police and Connecticut state troopers swarmed 11 Church Hill Road at about noon, Monday, set up a perimeter and even called for a police dog before learning that a report of a man with a gun at the dental office had been a false alarm, officials said.

It was a scary few minutes, but Newtown police eventually determined what had been a report of an armed man had been a miscommunication between office workers, police said.

A woman who worked at the Church Hill dental office was distraught over an impending divorce and decided to leave the office, telling co-workers she was going home, officials said.

A little later on, when the office workers saw her vehicle return to the Church Hill Road office, they believed it was the woman’s husband and alerted police, saying they believed he was armed, Newtown police said.

When police arrived, they set up a perimeter because they were unsure what was happening and a police dog also was called in case the reported armed man was outside the office.

It took a few minutes before officials determined there was no threat and the vehicle was just the woman returning to work. She was alone, unharmed and unarmed, officials said.