Lakewood High School placed in lockdown due to threat
Amid a recent trend of social media and live threats, police were at Lakewood High School Tuesday morning due to a "suspicious email" sent to township police threatening harm against the Ocean County school.
The school was placed under a lockdown as police investigated an email sent to to the police department website, according to spokesman Lt. Greg Staffordsmith.
Staffordsmith said investigators quickly determined the email, which referenced "blowing up" or "shooting up" an unnamed school, was sent from within Lakewood High School.
"Further investigation by Detectives Mike Cavallo and Lynn Miller, revealed after speaking with two 17 year old students, that the email was sent as a hoax. One of the students sent our website the email but used the other students identifiers. Both students were attending a Business Law class at the time. It was later determined that the student who's identifiers were used did not play a role in the hoax," Staffordsmith said.
Staffordsmith said the student who actually sent the message was charged with creating a false public alarm and terroristic threats. He was released a short time later pending a juvenile hearing.
Dan Alexander contributed to this report.
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