Newbridge Road Elementary School is latest campus targeted by swatting incident
Nassau County police responded to the Newbridge Road School in North Bellmore on Tuesday morning after receiving a report of a male with a gun and shots being fired that turned out to be false. Credit: John Scalesi
A 911 call Tuesday reporting a male with a gun inside a North Bellmore elementary school and possible gunshots fired turned out to be a swatting incident, Nassau County police said.
Authorities responded to Newbridge Road Elementary School shortly before 11:30 a.m. and conducted a comprehensive search of the building before determining the threat was unfounded, police said.
Swatting occurs when someone contacts law enforcement authorities, typically with their own location obscured, and reports some kind of false emergency or crime at the location of the target, drawing a heavy police response.
In a series of messages to parents Tuesday, North Bellmore school district Superintendent Marie Testa said the campus went on lockdown after an anonymous caller indicated there was a weapon on site.
By midafternoon, the lockdown was lifted and students and faculty were put on lockout, meaning that no one could enter or exit the building but regular operations and normal activities took place.
“The police were immediately contacted and they performed their protocols, including multiple sweeps of the building,” Testa told parents in a message Tuesday evening. “As is their protocol, police were in full tactical gear and remained in the building through dismissal. Children witnessed the heavy police presence in the school. As such, your child(ren) may have questions or concerns regarding the event that took place.”
A schoolwide assembly was held Tuesday “to reassure all students of their safety and to reaffirm building procedures during emergency situations,” she wrote. “It is encouraged that parents speak with their child(ren) as well. The district has mental health professionals on staff should you or your child need assistance.”
The investigation is ongoing and police urge anyone with information to call Crime Stoppers at 800-244-TIPS.
In October, nearly a dozen school districts statewide, including one in Amagansett, were targeted in a mass swatting incident in which an anonymous source stated that bombs had been placed in the building, according to East Hampton Town police. Investigators determined the threat was not credible.
A spate of high-profile people have been victims of swatting in recent weeks.
They include a Jan. 11 incident where Nassau police responded to the North Shore home of Arthur Engoron, the judge presiding over former President Donald Trump’s fraud trial in Manhattan.
Earlier this month, a Washington, D.C., home owned by U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan, who is overseeing Trump's federal election subversion case, was targeted by a fake emergency call, authorities said.
The homes of Republican U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia and Maine Secretary of State Shenna Bellows, a Democrat who removed Trump from the state’s presidential primary ballot under the Constitution’s insurrection clause, also have been subject to recent swatting incidents.
A 911 call Tuesday reporting a male with a gun inside a North Bellmore elementary school and possible gunshots fired turned out to be a swatting incident, Nassau County police said.
Authorities responded to Newbridge Road Elementary School shortly before 11:30 a.m. and conducted a comprehensive search of the building before determining the threat was unfounded, police said.
Swatting occurs when someone contacts law enforcement authorities, typically with their own location obscured, and reports some kind of false emergency or crime at the location of the target, drawing a heavy police response.
In a series of messages to parents Tuesday, North Bellmore school district Superintendent Marie Testa said the campus went on lockdown after an anonymous caller indicated there was a weapon on site.
By midafternoon, the lockdown was lifted and students and faculty were put on lockout, meaning that no one could enter or exit the building but regular operations and normal activities took place.
“The police were immediately contacted and they performed their protocols, including multiple sweeps of the building,” Testa told parents in a message Tuesday evening. “As is their protocol, police were in full tactical gear and remained in the building through dismissal. Children witnessed the heavy police presence in the school. As such, your child(ren) may have questions or concerns regarding the event that took place.”
A schoolwide assembly was held Tuesday “to reassure all students of their safety and to reaffirm building procedures during emergency situations,” she wrote. “It is encouraged that parents speak with their child(ren) as well. The district has mental health professionals on staff should you or your child need assistance.”
The investigation is ongoing and police urge anyone with information to call Crime Stoppers at 800-244-TIPS.
In October, nearly a dozen school districts statewide, including one in Amagansett, were targeted in a mass swatting incident in which an anonymous source stated that bombs had been placed in the building, according to East Hampton Town police. Investigators determined the threat was not credible.
A spate of high-profile people have been victims of swatting in recent weeks.
They include a Jan. 11 incident where Nassau police responded to the North Shore home of Arthur Engoron, the judge presiding over former President Donald Trump’s fraud trial in Manhattan.
Earlier this month, a Washington, D.C., home owned by U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan, who is overseeing Trump's federal election subversion case, was targeted by a fake emergency call, authorities said.
The homes of Republican U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia and Maine Secretary of State Shenna Bellows, a Democrat who removed Trump from the state’s presidential primary ballot under the Constitution’s insurrection clause, also have been subject to recent swatting incidents.
Robert Brodsky is a breaking news reporter who has worked at Newsday since 2011. He is a Queens College and American University alum.
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