Crime & Safety

Pellet Gun Prompts Dover Shelter-In-Place Order

A driver reported a man with a rifle in the area of the Dover-Sherborn regional schools Monday afternoon.

DOVER, MA – A pellet gun was the cause of a shelter-in-place order at the Dover-Sherborn regional schools Monday afternoon, police said. The Dover Police Department received a call from a motorist who reported seeing a man with a rifle near Donnelly Estates on Monday, prompting a search by the Dover, Sherborn and Medfield police departments.

Out of an "abundance of caution," the nearby Dover-Sherborn schools were asked to implement a shelter-in-place and did so for a short period of time, according to police.

Officers found a man matching the description of the person with a rifle, who told them he had been using a pellet gun on his property, police said. They left without incident.

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"As Chief, I was pleased to see that all plans and protocols we have in place with the schools and neighboring Police Departments worked exactly as designed," Dover Police Chief Peter McGowan said in a statement on Facebook.

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