Bomb threat sends Mercer County, NJ high students home

PENNINGTON — A bomb threat made on social media against a Mercer County high school led to the discovery of three suspicious packages and students being sent home early on Thursday.

Hopewell Valley Regional School District Superintendent Rosetta D. Treece in an email to parents said there would be an increased police presence at Central High School on Friday after a student reported seeing a picture of a bomb and a threat directed at Central High School in Pennington.

Hopewell police went to the school and cleared the packages as threats.

As a precautionary measure, students were taken to neighboring Timerlane Middle School while the high school was searched and secured using dogs, according to Treece. Students from both the high school and middle school were sent home early Thursday afternoon.

Around 1,000 students from Hopewell Township, Hopewell Borough and Pennington attend Central High School.

"We will continue this investigation and, hopefully, find the individual(s) responsible for posting this threat. We will also work with teachers, guidance counselors, and staff to remind students about the seriousness of this action," Treece wrote.

Hopewell Township Police Director Robert Karmazin told MercerMe.com that it was a non-credible threat.

The superintendent asked anyone with information about the threat to call the school's tipline at 609-737-4000 x 8477 (TIPS).

Treece and Hopewell police on Friday morning did not respond to New Jersey 101.5's requests for more information.

The second threat of the day in New Jersey

Earlier on Thursday an internet threat directed at Vineland High School was determined to be a fake after all district schools were closed "out of an abundance of caution" while the threat was investigated.

An investigation determined the threat was a generic posting that is being replicated and re-distributed. The district did not disclose who created the phony threat towards Vineland.

Contact reporter Dan Alexander at Dan.Alexander@townsquaremedia.com or via Twitter @DanAlexanderNJ

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