Boston Police spent several hours yesterday scouring the Dudley Triangle after a report of a possible child abduction set off a huge response in the vicinity of the John Winthrop School on Brookford St.

Police say today that the report appears to have been false- and that no children have been reported missing overnight in the city of Boston.

The action started around 2:30 p.m. on Thursday when police were summoned to the Winthrop School. Three children who had been dismissed from the school returned to tell the principal that they witnessed an older while male stuffing a duffle bag into the trunk of a car on Hartford Street, about a block from the school. The witnesses— described by police as "very young"— claimed that they heard a girl screaming from the duffle bag. The suspect was described as driving away in a black sedan.

Boston Police went door to door on the streets around the school, asking neighbors for any information, but "nothing panned out," according to BPD spokesperson Officer Nicole Grant.

"All students at the school were accounted for, there was no indication of foul play and no missing children in the city," said Officer Grant. "We're handling it as an open investigation, but we're not sure the witnesses actually saw what they said they saw."