Report Of Gun Threat At Barnegat School Unfounded: Police

BARNEGAT, NJ — A threat involving an armed student in a Barnegat Township school on Wednesday afternoon was unfounded, according to Police Chief Keith Germain.

Germain said officers arrived at the Russell O. Brackman Middle School after the Barnegat Township Police Department received a report that there was a student armed with a gun in the cafeteria.

“It was quickly determined that the threat was unfounded and that there was no gun involved,” Germain wrote Wednesday on Facebook.

The initial report prompted a district-wide lockdown at 12:40 p.m. which was lifted a few minutes later, according to Superintendent Brian Latwis.

The first police officer was on scene 50 seconds after the call was dispatched, with more officers arriving immediately after, Germain said.

“Having listened to the audio of the call, I'd like to commend the school staff member who called, the OCSD 911 dispatcher, and our dispatcher at Stafford PD for quickly communicating what was known vs. unconfirmed, making sure the officers had the information they needed to moderate their response, and working together to make sure we had ample assets on location and ready to work if the threat was confirmed and our kids and staff were in danger,” Germain said.

Emails and phone calls were sent to parents after the lockdown was lifted. In the messages, school officials said the entire district had been placed under a lockdown out of abundance of caution.

In a statement to Patch, Latwis said a student falsely reported another student for having a firearm.

"The administration immediately responded by notifying the Barnegat Police Department, locking down the school, notifying my office which immediately moved to have all buildings go shelter in place until we knew there was no danger and secured the students involved," Latwis said. "I would like to thank the administrators and staff who responded to the situation immediately as well as the officers who responded to the call within seconds ensuring the safety of our students."

This article was updated to include a statement from Superintendent Brian Latwis.