Newark School Locked Down After Report Of Student With Gun: Police

NEWARK, NJ — Reports of a student with a gun caused a lockdown at a Newark middle school for several hours on Thursday, but police didn’t find a firearm during a search of the premises, authorities say.

According to the Newark Department of Public Safety, a group of students at Camden Middle School at 321 Bergen Street allegedly got involved in a physical altercation earlier in the week which continued as a verbal dispute on social media.

School officials received reports that a student with a gun entered the building around 11 a.m. on Thursday and immediately called police and ordered a lockdown, authorities said.

Police searched the student who allegedly had a gun but didn’t find a weapon, authorities said.

Camden Middle School administrators initiated an early dismissal as a precaution and school officials searched students upon exiting the building, but no weapons were recovered.

No students or staff suffered injuries during the incident, police said.

Members of the Newark Police Division and the Essex County Sheriff’s Office K-9 officers later conducted a search of the building. No weapon was recovered, but a small cigarette lighter fashioned in the shape of a gun was recovered inside the school, police stated.

Newark police detectives are conducting an ongoing investigation, authorities said.

Anyone with information about the incident can contact police at the NPD’s 24-hour Crime Stoppers’ tip line at 1- 877-NWK-TIPS (1-877-695-8477) or 1-877-NWK-GUNS (1-877-695-4867).

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