Police: Guest Speakers Caused Evacuation At South Brunswick School

The two people, who prompted the evacuation of 500 students when they failed to stop at a visitors’ checkpoint in an elementary school, were guest speakers who showed up at the wrong building, police said.

The two people quickly realized they had gone to the wrong building, so soon after they were buzzed into Indian Fields Elementary School, they left without checking in at the main office, police said.

But those actions prompted a police response and the evacuation of some 500 students Monday morning, police said.

Within an hour, the incident was resolved and students were allowed back inside.

According to a news release from Capt. James Ryan:

Around 9:45 a.m. Indian Fields Elementary School staff called police to report that two people had “breached security procedures at the school.”

The man and woman went to the front entrance, were buzzed in and told to go to the main office. But the pair never showed up in the office and staff could not find them.

A dozen South Brunswick officers responded and secured the building. Some 500 students “were evacuated following normal procedures practiced every month.”

The students were sent to sit on buses provided by the district. In the meantime, detectives began interviewing witnesses and visitors who came to the building around the same time as the man and woman.

Police then checked other area schools to determine if anyone matching their had entered those buildings. That’s when police found the pair at another elementary school.

The two visitors were visiting “schools to talk about a summer learning program and mistakenly went to the wrong school.”

“The two individuals realized they were not supposed to be at Indian Fields Schools and left the school shortly after entering,” according to police.

By 10:45 a.m. students returned to class.

Chief Raymond Hayducka credited school staff and officers with quickly resolving the situation.

“I was at the scene, the principal, teachers and staff did a great job of working with the students and making the evacuation an orderly process. The security drills the schools practice paid off today,” Hayducka said in a prepared statement.

Indian Fields School will follow normal dismissal procedures, police said.