This is not a drill: Shooting prompts lockdown at Hillsborough schools during hunt for teen

🚨Daylight shooting near Hillsborough Centre triggered school security procedures

🚨Five Hillsborough schools were locked down

🚨Suspect surrendered hours later and now faces attempted murder charges

HILLSBOROUGH —  Gunfire erupted Tuesday afternoon at a busy shopping center, triggering a lockdown of five schools and a massive police search before the suspect surrendered hours later.

A 19-year-old victim, who avoided injury, identified the gunman as his friend, Dawan Jeter, also 19, who is now charged with attempted murder.

Gunman opens fire near Chipotle

Authorities say the violence erupted around 1 p.m. near the Hillsborough Centre on Amwell Road along Route 206, where witnesses reported a man being shot in broad daylight. Panicked calls poured in as bystanders watched a gunman unleash several rounds before he fled.

A bystander’s dash cam video captured the shooter pulling a handgun from a white backpack and firing multiple times.

Witnesses told investigators the gunman hopped onto a scooter, zipped across Route 206, and vanished into the Hillsborough Village Center apartments.

Police later recovered the abandoned scooter and found five spent shell casings scattered in front of Chipotle, turning the parking lot into a taped-off crime scene.

Hillsborough schools sealed, community on edge

With a gunman on the loose, police ordered five Hillsborough schools into a “secure procedure,” locking down buildings and halting all movement in or out. Several nearby businesses were also warned as officers began a search by land and air.

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Suspect surrenders hours later; faces attempted-murder charges

Police obtained a search warrant to enter Jeter's home but didn't find him inside.

Hours later, just before 6 p.m., Jeter walked into police headquarters and surrendered.

He was charged with first-degree attempted murder, second-degree unlawful possession of a handgun, second-degree possession of a firearm for an unlawful purpose, and third-degree endangering another person.

Jeter is being held at the Somerset County Jail pending a detention hearing.

Somerset County Prosecutor John P. McDonald did not reveal a motive for the shooting. He asked anyone with information about the incident to contact his office at 908-231-7100 or the Hillsborough Township Police Department at 908-369-4313.

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