OCEAN COUNTY – Several Ocean County school districts became a target for swatting, making schools go into lockdown on Friday.
Many local police departments put out statements regarding the status of these attacks, which all happened within a 30-minute time frame.
Toms River Police was the first to publish a statement on their Facebook page, saying that they received a call about a potential shooting at High School North. Authorities stated they are currently investigating the incident as a possible swatting case with no active threat. However, the high school was put on lock down as a precaution.
Shortly after, Barnegat Police Department provided a number of statements online regarding a report of a shooter at Barnegat High School.
“The students from BHS are being evacuated… While we believe this was a swatting incident, officers continue to follow-up with secondary searches of the building. Again, the students and staff are safe and we have significant resources on scene to ensure it stays that way,” Barnegat Police Chief Keith Germain said.
A five second video posted online by a student appeared to show a Barnegat Police Officer with his gun drawn while kids were in a classroom. At this time, no comment was made regarding this incident.
Another school hit with a swatting attack was Jackson Liberty High School, where police also received a phone call about a potential shooting. Despite the threat, police said that the location given by the unknown caller was inaccurate and the school was not placed on lockdown.
“Regardless school security and our School Resource Officer sought out the location given by the caller, and it was deemed not to be a threat as the location given by the caller was inaccurate. Due to the totality of the circumstances, the decision was made not to put the school in lockdown. The call was deemed unfounded and is being investigated as a swatting incident,” Jackson Police said.
Ocean County Sheriff Mike Mastronardy confirmed that these threats made to all three schools were all unfounded.
In addition to Ocean County schools, many other schools across the state were victims of swatting. This included high schools in Monmouth, Mercer, Middlesex and Sussex Counties.
The Monmouth County Sheriff’s Office said on their Facebook page that there was police activity at the Biotechnology High School & Monmouth County Career Center on Kozloski Road in Freehold Township. However, they ensured no threat or danger to students.
While authorities were keeping the public information with updates as these events were unfolding, residents wrote comments thanking local law enforcement for their quick response.
“I can’t thank the police department for jumping into action with no hesitation ready to do whatever necessary to protect our kids and teachers,” Heather Jaskot wrote to Barnegat Police.
“Thank you and your dept. for responding so quickly and for protecting this community!” Another commentor wrote.
There are also posts on various Facebook groups that an arrest was made but Jersey Shore Online has been unable to confirm those details. We are waiting for more details from the authorities.
