Teen Charged In Bomb Threat At North Jersey High School: Police

LYNDHURST, NJ - A 15-year-old boy from Brooklyn has been charged in connection with a 911 phone call threatening to “blow up” Lyndhurst High School earlier this year, authorities said.

Lyndhurst police were notified shortly before noon on Oct. 7 that an anonymous caller had used technology to hide his calling line identity while advising a 911 operator that there was a bomb inside Lyndhurst High School, police said.

Lyndhurst police officers were immediately dispatched to the area and a Lyndhurst
Board of Education action plan was enacted, prompting a lockdown and, later, an evacuation,
of around 825 students, police said.

Following a sweep of the interior and exterior of the school, police were unable to find any kind of dangerous device in the area. However, during the first moments of the incident, a special law enforcement officer assigned to Lyndhurst High School observed a young man he didn’t recognize walking in front of the school near the area of the school gym, police said.

When confronted by the officer, the boy explained he was from Brooklyn and was in Lyndhurst to visit with a Lyndhurst High School student with whom he had recently met playing an online video game.

An investigation later found that, on the day of the incident, the boy traveled to New Jersey via public transportation and arrived in Lyndhurst around 11 a.m., where he met up with a group of Lyndhurst High School students. After the students returned to school for the afternoon session, the boy placed the 911 call while still within close proximity to the school.

The boy ultimately confessed to Det. Tom McSweeney that he made the bomb threat and was charged with creating a false public alarm, police said. He was released to the custody of his father.

“We consider bomb threats to be very serious. The safety of our school and our
community will always be our top priority,” Det. Lt. Vincent Auteri said. “We remain grateful
for our strong working relationship with the Lyndhurst school district and we would like to thank
the community for their support and understanding during the incident and their patience
throughout the investigation.”

The Lyndhurst Police Department thanked the Bergen County Sheriff’s
Department K-9 and Bomb Squad Units, the Bergen County Prosecutor’s Office Cyber Crimes
and Intelligence Units and the Department of Homeland Security Investigations Newark Field
Office for their help in the investigation.

“Bomb threats are never amusing and they are never harmless,” Lyndhurst Police Chief Richard Jarvis said. “We will never allow this behavior to stand. We will always track down the perpetrator and hold him or her accountable. We’re also grateful to [Special Law Enforcement Officer III William Peer] for his quick thinking and alertness. The new SLEO program, though new, is working well and this is a great example of it in action.”