Prosecutor: No Threats Since 'Gunman' Calls

An investigation is ongoing and no new threats have surfaced after Hackettstown High School , when a man called 911 and threatened to kill students there.

Warren County Prosecutor Richard Burke, who assumed his position on March 30, replacing Thomas S. Ferguson, said all leads and precautions were followed that day, and when law enforcement officials deemed the situation not an immediate threat, the lockdown was ended. 

The lockdown lasted nearly four hours, as all schools in Hackettstown were inaccessible to the public. Students and faculty in the schools remained in their classrooms for the majority of the time.

“It was a difficult situation,” Burke said. “The caller wasn’t using a landline, and it’s been hard to trace the call. We still haven’t found or named a suspect.”

Burke also said that in the seven weeks since the incident, no new threats or suspicious activity has occurred.

The caller, according to Frank Wheatle, the center’s manager.

Transcripts of the calls , and was ready to kill students. , and that was the reason for his threat.

In one of the transcripts, the caller names his ex-girlfriend, but the information was redacted by the Warren County Prosecutor’s Office for the privacy of the person and not to hinder the investigation.

“All the necessary precautions were taken that day,” Burke said. “No one was in danger once the police were in place (at the schools).”

The caller also told the dispatcher he lived on Warren Street in Hackettstown during the conversation. Authorities canvassed the area at that time, Burke said, and found no one by that name or that was considered to be threatening in the area.

“There was no immediate threat in the area, ,” Burke said. “We still take these threats as viable and will continue to do so.”

No students or faculty at any of the schools in Hackettstown were injured or harmed that day. , according to Hackettstown Police Det. Darren Tynan.