BRICK - Township police and the Ocean County Prosecutor's Office are investigating a social media threat made against Mayor John G. Ducey following the mayor's controversial reply to an anti-Semitic tweet earlier this week.

Twitter suspended a user who tweeted Ducey's home address Thursday along with the words "Time to kill (expletive). Stand by one I will give out address."

Ocean County Prosecutor Bradley Billhimer said in a statement Friday that the message is under investigation and the FBI is assisting local and county law enforcement with the probe.

The account with the handle @DoctorLock was suspended as of Friday morning.

The comment was posted in response to a story, posted on the Asbury Park Press' Twitter account, about an anti-Semitic tweet and Ducey's response to it. An Asbury Park Press producer reported the comment to Twitter and an editor reported it to township police.

Asked if any threat had been deemed credible or if there were any security measures taken as a result, township police Sgt. Keith Donnelly said, "This is an active investigation, therefore I cannot release any information."

Ducey came under fire earlier this week when many believed he did not quickly enough denounce an anti-Semitic remark from another user. On Tuesday, Twitter user @simms10471 tweeted to Ducey that the township's parks and beaches were being "invaded" by Hasidic and Orthodox Jews and being "ruined."

Ducey responded that "Our parks security has started already. Just call police with any problems and they will send them out."

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Ducey's response triggered an immediate backlash from those who took it to mean Brick would use police to drive Jewish park visitors away.

The mayor insisted it was a "misunderstanding" when interviewed Wednesday. In a separate interview Thursday, he continued that police should only be called for actual law-enforcement issues such as littering, fighting, drinking in public or unleashed dogs.

"My response from people who don't know me kind of got misconstrued. They were trying to twist that around," he told the Asbury Park Press in an earlier interview. He also condemned bigotry, generally, and anti-Semitism, specifically.

The dust-up compelled Raymond G. Coles, mayor in neighboring Lakewood, to write Ducey to express his "dismay" at Ducey's handling of the original tweet.

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"I believe that as mayors and community leaders we need to work together for harmony not hatred," Coles wrote.

In an interview with the Press Thursday, Coles said he knew Ducey to be "a good man" who was not bigoted. "I think it just shows you shouldn't govern with Twitter, on a national or local level," he told the Press Thursday.

Chris Siciliano, mayor of Ocean Township in Monmouth County, defended Ducey, saying he believed his fellow mayor's comment was taken out of context.

"I know the guy, he's just not like that at all," Siciliano said of the message that some read to say police could be called on Jewish park-goers. "I don't think he meant anything by it. It's terrible that people have to go in that direction."

Siciliano, who reached out to the Asbury Park Press to share his support for Ducey, added: "I've known mayor Ducey several years now. He's a very nice guy, very sincere. He's here for the right reasons."

The account page for @doctorlock on Friday read "Account suspended" and "Twitter suspends accounts which violate the Twitter Rules."

The account page for @simms1047 was no longer online Friday.

Ducey was not available for comment Friday.

Contributing: Stacey Barchenger, Amanda Oglesby

Alex N. Gecan: @GeeksterTweets; 732-643-4043; agecan@gannettnj.com