P'burg High gun scare Weapon proves to be paintball gun Wednesday, December 13, 2006 • By PRECIOUS PETTY• The Express-Times PHILLIPSBURG | Administrators put Phillipsburg High School on lockdown for more than two hours Tuesday morning after receiving word of a student on campus with a firearm. The weapon proved to be a broken paintball gun stored inside a student's locker, but that didn't stop some parents from racing to the school to pick up their children. Students, who were kept in homeroom while school security officers searched the building, used cell phones to call or text message their parents about the lockdown. In several cases, those reports reached parents before automated phone calls sent out by the Phillipsburg School District to notify them of the lockdown. "I didn't hear anything. There was no phone call from the school," one parent said as she and her 10th-grade son walked to their van after the lockdown. The Pohatcong Township woman, who declined to give her name, learned of what occurred at the school from other parents whose children called them. "I didn't know what was going on. That's why I came up here," she said. Bill Merrick, the district director of security, said officials used automated phone calls, first to tell parents about the lockdown and again to tell them how it ended. He didn't know what time the calls were made. Student notifies officials Phillipsburg police Detective Lt. Edward Mirenda said the incident began about 7:20 a.m. when a student observed other students exchanging what looked like a gun near the school's small gym. The witness notified school officials, who in turn called police at 8:04 a.m., he said. "As a precaution, we were called and placed around the perimeter and inside as well." It is unclear who was handling the weapon, Mirenda said. "The witness saw it at a distance," and "there was some video (from an on-campus surveillance camera), but we really couldn't tell who it was." According to a notice posted on the district Web site, "an extensive search of the building uncovered a component (base) of an inoperable paint ball pistol in one of the lockers. "After interviewing the student involved and determining there was no present danger, the lockdown was terminated, and the students and school were returned to a normal schedule" shortly after 10 a.m. The student told officials he'd brought it to exchange for a second paintball gun with another student who also enjoys the sport, Merrick said. Officials did find a second paintball gun in the school, he said. Merrick commended the student who reported the incident to school officials. "I give him a lot of credit. I wish a lot more kids would do that." He declined to identify the students who brought the paintball guns to school or discuss whether they'd be disciplined by the district. Parents are contacted Thomasina McNeill said a cell phone call from her daughter, 11th-grader Tamara, prompted her and her husband to drive from their Greenwich Township home to the school. "We're new to the area, so it frightened us," said McNeill, who moved to Warren County from Long Island. A few minutes after they arrived on campus, a friend whose son also attends the school called and told her about the district's automated message, she said while waiting for her daughter outside the school. It was a relief to know that the reported weapon was only a paintball gun, but she and her husband decided to take Tamara home anyway. Inside the school, rumors began to swirl almost immediately about what prompted the lockdown, the 16-year-old said. "At first, I wasn't afraid," but as time passed with no explanation from school officials, that changed, Tamara McNeil said. "They weren't telling us anything." Despite some initial confusion, Mirenda said, school officials "did a wonderful job." After the fatal shooting of Amish children inside a Lancaster County schoolhouse in October, district Superintendent Gordon Pethick sent a letter home to parents about school safety. He referenced the district's crisis planning, which includes provisions for school lockdowns and collaboration with town and county emergency responders, according to the letter. "No one can guarantee 100 percent safety anywhere or at any time; however, I assure you that we take the well-being of all of our students and staff very seriously," Pethick wrote. He didn't return phone calls for comment Tuesday. Reporter Precious Petty can be reached at 610-258-7171 or by e-mail at ppetty@express-times.com. © 2006 The Express-Times. Used by NJ.com with permission.