UPDATE:

Hackettstown school lockdown has ended, gun threat was 'unfounded,' officials say

HACKETTSTOWN — Reports of a man carrying an assault rifle in the Hackettstown area have caused a swift police response and the lockdown of every school within the town this morning, education and law enforcement officials said.

Centenary College was placed on lockdown around 10 a.m. this morning, after Hackettstown Police called the college and reported "a sighting of a man with a gun in the area," said Annamarie Lavalee, the school's director of public relations.

At 11:16 a.m., the school posted an update to its website warning students that officials were searching for a white male wearing blue jeans and a black sweatshirt with an assault rifle.

"Please be reminded the person could have hid the weapon," the post read. "NJSP Helicopter is in the area."

The panic began around 9:45 a.m. when a man called the Warren County Communications Center and claimed he had an assault rifle in a wooded area near Hackettstown High School, according to an alert posted on the Centenary College web site.

The first call to the college came at 10:08 a.m., Lavalee said.

Every school, from the elementary level to Centenary College, has been locked down due to the looming threat, according to authorities and public service announcements being broadcast on local radio stations.

Bobby Sporman, a 23-year-old student at Centenary College, said he was in a classroom with 30 other people when the siren went off this morning.



"We told the teacher that we had to evacuate, as a joke, and then we found out two minutes later it was locked down," said Sporman, a Somerset County resident who is locked in the Seay Building, the campus' main structure.

Sporman said most of the students in the room have been calm despite reports of a gunman in the area, but complained they are also "hungry and tired."

School lockdown in Hackettstown 10 Gallery: School lockdown in Hackettstown

A Star-Ledger reporter arrived at Centenary College around 12:30 p.m., but was told by campus security to "leave or stay in your car."

A post on the Centenary College website from 12:34 p.m. reads: "Lockdown continues - A high ranking member of the Warren County Tactical Unit has requested that ALL personnel, students and employees alike, remain inside as there are police all over the area. People outside compound their efforts!"

All Classes before 4 p.m. have been canceled, according to the college's web site.

Hackettstown High School and Hatchery Hills High School have also been placed on lockdown, police said.

Local authorities, State Troopers from the Washington Station, and State Police aviation units are currently searching for the man, police said.

There have been no official sightings of the man who said he had an AK-47 and no threats were made, said Warren County Public Safety Director Frank Wheatley. He is calling from an untraceable number and he says he was born on Feb. 19, 1993, authorities report.

At Centenary, students not checking their email are learning about the lockdown as they arrive at campus buildings, a student who is on campus said.

"A lot of students keep coming in and out of campus," the student, who called the Express-Times but didn't want to give his name, said. "I'm in the one place they told us not to go - the cafeteria."

"I keep seeing students coming in and walking in the area," he said. "Commuters aren't aware."

He heard an alarm sound earlier but alerts come via email, so many students are walking around unaware, he said. It's not until they get to a building that they are told they can only come in and not leave, he said.

He said security told him there is a gunman running between the high school and the woods with a rifle.

The Warren Reporter says parents at barricades set up outside the high school are texting with their children inside.

The Warren County field communications unit was posted at the main access road to the high school. A New Jersey State Police helicopter arrived just before 11 this morning. Tactical team members were deployed and other police were getting organized in a nearby parking lot.

Officials from the Hackettstown Police and Warren County Public Safety Directors said they will release information on the lockdowns later in the day, and could not immediately provide comment.

Staff writer Ben Horowitz, The Warren Reporter and The Express-Times of Easton, Pa., contributed to this report.