BERKELEY – A 14-year-old Beachwood child was arrested and charged with creating a false public alarm June 8.
The juvenile, whose name and sex has not been released by Berkeley Township Police, called a Bayville funeral home and said a school shooting would occur. No specific threats were made. Police quickly located the owner of the phone number from which the call was made, and determined no potential or immediate threat to anyone.
Police investigated this incident throughout the day. School resource officers, normally assigned to all township schools each day, were also notified prior to the start of their tour.
Police said the teen was not lodged and released to the parents.
“The Berkeley Township Police Department appreciates the concern of parents and residents. In light of recent events at schools across this country, it’s normal to be on heightened alert and to take every threat seriously. Many of us also have children in the Berkeley and Central school systems and are just as concerned when this kind of information is received,” police said in an evening press release today.
“With that said, we would like to emphasize that our officers and detectives treat even the most vague of threats as top priority and exercise a ‘zero tolerance’ policy for such incidents, like which occurred today,” the statement continued.
“We ask that we don’t let fear or rumors become fact. Many times such as today, various versions of ‘what happened’ are all over the internet creating a difficult situation for detectives and school administrators. Fiction becomes fact very quickly and this could undermine any ongoing investigation,” the statement said.
Anyone with information on this incident is asked to call Det. Michael Riccardelli at 732-341-1132, ext. 2136.
