Aide's Report Prompts Brick Police To Take Armed Man Into Custody

BRICK, NJ — A home health aide's report that a man had a loaded weapon led to a shelter in place order Friday at two Brick Township schools, Brick Township police said.

Police were called to a Sprucewood Drive home just before 9 a.m., Capt. Keith Reinhard said.

The home health aide had gone into the home to meet with the homeowner but found him armed with a weapon. The man did not make any threats to the aide or to anyone else, but the home health aide left and immediately called police, Reinhard said.

Police set up a perimeter and placed Warren H. Wolf Elementary School and Brick Township High School on lockdowns as a precaution, he said. Sprucewood Drive is the road between the elementary school and Brick's Civic Plaza. Police also issued a Nixle alert about 9:45 a.m. asking people to avoid the area.

About 10:45 a.m. police were able to make contact with the man, at which time he was placed into protective custody and taken to Ocean Medical Center for an evaluation. No one else was in the home and no one was injured, Reinhard said.

Police removed at least one loaded weapon from the home, but he said no charges were filed at the time; the investigation was continuing.

Superintendent Gerard Dalton said the district took extra measures during the dismissal of its morning preschool program at Warren H. Wolf Elementary as a precaution, with some students kept at the school because they live in the neighborhood.

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