✅ A tree fell on a 12-year-old boy in his Lawrence Township backyard

✅ Winds were just beginning to pick up out of the W-NW at 25 mph

✅ The boy was a 7th grader at Lawrence Middle School


LAWRENCE TOWNSHIP (Mercer) — A 12-year-old boy was killed by a tree that fell on him as he played in his backyard early Monday afternoon.

Lawrence Township Police Chief Christopher Longo said the boy was with a friend in the backyard of his home on Eldridge Avenue just after noon. Officers who were first on the scene were able to get the boy out from under the tree and perform CPR. The boy was taken to Capital Health System Regional Medical Center in Trenton where he was pronounced dead, according to Longo.

Investigators blame gusty winds for knocking the tree over near a play set. New Jersey 101.5 Chief Meteorologist Dan Zarrow said the chilly west-northwest wind was just starting to kick up. At nearby weather stations in Trenton and Hopewell, regular gusts over 25 mph were observed around that time.

According to the school calendar, district students were off on Monday for a professional development day.

A GoFundMe campaign was created to help support his family.

ALSO READ: NJ Transit RiverLine train his tree, 1 dead

Counselors on site for students & staff

Lawrence Township School District Superintendent Robyn Klim in a letter to the school community identified the boy as Lucas Schwartz, a 7th grader at Lawrence Middle School. She said the district is “heartbroken” by the boy’s death and extended "heartfelt sympathy" to his family.

Counselors will be available at the school today for students and staff. Therapy dogs and members of the Mercer County Traumatic Loss Coalition will be on site.

"The Mercer County Traumatic Loss Coalition will be at the LMS Library to assist parents with ways to provide support through the grieving process," Klim wrote. "This will be open to parents/guardians only."

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