Police Patrolling Antrim School After Search was Done

Police are patrolling the G. Harold Antrim Elementary School today and continuing to investigate a call that had prompted them to search the school on Wednesday, said Point Beach Police Chief Kevin O'Hara on Thursday morning.

The school was searched after students had been dismissed on Wednesday afternoon, nothing was found and there was no incident, said O'Hara. He added that the investigation is ongoing and police are not yet disclosing the exact wording of the call left as a recorded message on the school's attendance line.

"The message was not specific as to any threat, it was a four or five word message," O'Hara said. "The message was very vague and there are different ways to interpret it. But the school administration and ourselves decided to be safe and search the school."

A call from outside the area was placed as a recorded message after students had been dismissed and the school called police at about 3:30 p.m., O'Hara said.

The only students in the building were those enrolled in the after-school day care program and some playing a softball game on a field just outside, O'Hara said.

All students and staff in the building and on the field were asked to leave and the police and the Ocean County Sheriff's officers and their dogs searched the building, O'Hara said. A few parents have told Patch they were asked to come pick up their children from the Board of Education office.

Police traced the call, which had been placed "from outside the area," O'Hara said. "We're still looking into it and trying to find the originator of the call."

The original plan to have Little League photos taken at the school Wednesday evening was canceled, O'Hara said.

The police patrolling today are special police officers "making extra patrols around the perimeter of the school just to ease anybody's worries," O'Hara said.