An armed police officer takes up a position on the roof of a school at the Upper Freehold Regional School District complex on High Street, Allentown, on May 22. Officers were responding to a report of an armed individual on the roof of Allentown High School. Police said the report proved to be unfounded. RAY CHISTE ALLENTOWN — A lockdown at Allentown High School and the Newell Elementary School lasted for nearly two hours in what police later described as a false report of a gunman in the area.
According to the New Jersey State Police, the May 22 incident began when a dispatcher received a report that an armed individual was seen standing on the roof of Allentown High School in the Upper Freehold Regional School District complex on High Street just before 10:30 a.m.
Officials said a complete lockdown of both schools in the complex immediately went into effect following the report.
Stone Bridge Middle School, which is not on the same campus as the high school and the elementary school, did not go into lockdown following the report.
State police troopers and Allentown police officers converged at the High Street complex.
One eyewitness said numerous state police cruisers and two Allentown Police Department vehicles arrived at the scene. At least one armed state trooper took up a position on the roof of Newell Elementary School.
The eyewitness said parents gathered at the Allentown Presbyterian Church across from the schools as the incident was unfolding. Other parents gathered at a location south of the campus.
Following a sweep of both schools by police, the lockdown was lifted at about noon.
State police declined to describe the day’s events as the latest in a string of “swatting” incidents, but did say the initial report was a hoax.
According to the FBI, “swatting” is the practice of making a hoax call to 911 to draw a response from law enforcement, which can include the deployment of a SWAT team.
State police said an investigation into the incident is ongoing.