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Cicero Church Responds to Threat Cicero Church Responds to Threat

By Francesco Simone

Sacred Heart Church
© 2023 Francesco Simone

Liam Griffin: Let’s get to our top story, the continuing fallout of the Israel-Hamas war. A string of anti semitic acts taking place in Syracuse in the week following the start of the war, including one man who was arrested at a locla church after claiming to be Hamas.

Zach Richter: NCC’s Francesco Simone joins us live for more, hey Francesco.

Francesco Simone: Hey Zach, hey Liam, yes I am live here at Sacred Heart Church in Cicero, and as you guys mentioned, in the aftermath and and as it continues the conflict between Israel and Hamas in the Middle East, religious organizations around the world, and even here in central New York, are on high alert.

Peter Zangari: It was shock. You never know, the way things are

Sgt. James Snell: The male said today was going to be bad. A staff member said “well why?” The male then said he was Hamas and today was their day of rage and they were going to destroy churches.

Francesco Simone: That incident at Sacred Heart Church in Cicero has houses of worship aware of the threats of religious violence that exist, and its the goal of law enforcement to be proactive.

Sgt. James Snell: With the active shooter environment that’s happened in the last five, six, seven years, our officers are on high alert anyway with churches so anytime that something comes in like this we take it extremely serious and we try to do as much training as possible so we’re not caught by surprise.

Francesco Simone: And it’s not just about making sure officers are prepared to respond to any sort of threat, but also people who could find themselves in danger.

Sgt. James Snell: Since 2017, is providing active shooter training, active threat training to any church, community group, business in the town of Cicero absolutely free of charges.We’ve done that with a number of churches. We’ve done that with Sacred Heart Church in the past, they requested again, which we are doing a class there tonight.

Francesco Simone: A class that parishioners say will make a real impact on their safety.

Kyle Stapleton: I think that people could gain an understanding and at least maybe having a plan. I think what you choose to do in a situation like that will go a long way so if you can develop even one or two possible strategies to conduct yourself, I think it’s beneficial. I think it says that we want to take care of our own. We want everyone to feel safe and we want everyone to be equipped with that training so they can protect themselves and maybe others.

Francesco Simone: Well, it’s not just here at in Cicero at Sacred Heart Church, also other law enforcement agencies around central New York, including in DeWitt with certain Jewish community centers are taking these steps to make sure their members are safe. The active shooter drill tonight right here at Sacred Heart Church is set for seven o’clock. Zach, Liam, back to you guys.

Syracuse, N.Y. (NCC News) – On Friday, police were called to Sacred Heart Church in Cicero after a man claiming to be part of the middle eastern terrorist group Hamas threatened to bomb the church.

Police responded, and by the time they got there, the individual had already left the scene. While no one was hurt and no incident actually occurred, the threat caused alarm among faith leaders and law enforcement.

“It was shock. You never know, the way things are,” Peter Zangari, a parishioner at Sacred Heart said about the incident.

“With the active shooter environment that’s happened in the last five, six, seven years, our officers are on high alert anyway with churches so anytime that something comes in like this we take it extremely serious and we try to do as much training as possible so we’re not caught by surprise.” Sgt. James Snell of the Cicero Police Department said.

That training is not just for law enforcement officials responding to a potential emergency, but also for the people who may find themselves in a dangerous situation. The Cicero Police Department hosted an active shooter safety course at Sacred Heart Church on Monday evening.

It’s a program that has been offered by the department since 2017. They do it whenever asked by organizations, and have already completed one at Sacred Heart Church before.

“I think that people could gain an understanding and at least maybe having a plan. I think what you choose to do in a situation like that will go a long way so if you can develop even one or two possible strategies to conduct yourself, I think it’s beneficial,” said parishioner Kyle Stapleton.

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