Two South Jersey students charged with making school shooting threats
A Lumberton student reported overhearing threats to the school district.
Two 14-year-olds were taken into custody and charged with making terroristic threats and creating false public alarm after threatening Friday to participate in a school shooting, Lumberton police said.
The teens are among several people to face charges related to alleged threats of gun violence in local schools. Also on Friday, Evesham police arrested two students and charged them with making separate shooting threats on Snapchat against a middle school and a high school, according to officials.
In the Lumberton case, the school district notified the police when a Lumberton Middle School student reported overhearing alarming comments shortly after class dismissal. The student was also threatened, police said.
Police did not identify the students charged or provide details on what they allegedly threatened to do.
"We will always take any threatening statement, made in any context, as a legitimate threat when it comes to the safety of our students," Police Chief Anthony DiLoreto said in a news release. "We will work diligently with the school district and community to identify, address and mitigate [any] situation that pertains to our students' safety."