Details Emerge About Essex County High School Lockdown, Gun Arrests

ESSEX COUNTY, NJ — Newark authorities have released more information about a two SWAT team arrests that took place during a recent lockdown at a local high school.

Newark SWAT police – joined by members of the NJ State Police and the Essex County Sheriff’s Department, responded to University High School at 50 Clinton Place around 2:42 p.m. on Friday after receiving a call about a “student with a weapon posting photos of himself with a gun on Facebook.”

According to police, the situation came to light when a concerned parent obtained a photo of the suspect taken in a school bathroom with a gun and brought the photo to the attention of a school security guard.

The security guard notified the school’s principal, who in turn notified the school resource officer. Newark police, including those assigned to Safe Passageways posts, responded to the school, which had already been placed on lockdown, authorities said.

Police located the suspect – a 15-year-old male student at the school - and continued a search of the building, locating the .38 caliber revolver in a classroom with another 15-year-old University High student.

Neither of the suspects were “barricaded” inside the school and no one was injured during the incident, police said.

Authorities charged both youths with Unlawful Possession of a Weapon, Possession of a Weapon for Unlawful Purposes, Unlawful Possession of a Weapon on School Grounds and Conspiracy.

Newark Public Safety Director Anthony Ambrose commended all officers’ responses to the incident, praising their cooperation and the fact that the situation was “quickly resolved without anyone getting injured.”

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