The incident began around 10:30 a.m., when an announcement over the loudspeaker informed students that the lockdown was not a drill and there was potentially an armed individual inside the building. The students remained in the classroom, and police were called to the scene.
Authorities say a search of the school yielded nothing.
The Hasbrouck Heights School District was also locked down in response to the threat made to Lodi High School.
Parents gathered in front of the building, waiting for their children to come outside. And before the all-clear was given, students tell Eyewitness News reporter Darla Miles that they immediately reacted, huddling in corners and barricading their classroom doors with their desks.
Then, they sat and waited until police went door-to-door and physically cleared them. Each student was subject to a patdown before they were allowed outside.
"We were in gym class, and on the loudspeaker, all you hear is lockdown, lockdown," one student said. "So we just got into lockdown mode. We would hide inside the showers and lockdown all the buildings, and we were just sitting there. And then the cops came to the door and said, 'We're the police. Are you guys safe?'...They called lockdown off after they cleared the building. They just wanted to make sure everything was safe. We got patted down by police and got released one by one."
Both lockdowns were lifted around 11:30 a.m. when the threat was deemed unfounded.
