Lockdowns lifted after suspect alert at St. Elizabeth U. triggers shelter-in place at schools

A lockdown following the alert of a possible suspect with a weapon near the campus of Saint Elizabeth University in Morris County triggered shelter-in-place orders Tuesday morning at two neighboring universities and nearby public schools.

Police closed the entrances to multiple Morris County schools after the alert, including the neighboring Fairleigh Dickinson University campus in Florham Park, Drew University in nearby Madison and Madison's public schools.

The lockdowns at Saint Elizabeth were lifted just after 4 p.m., university spokesperson Denise Panyik-Dale confirmed.

Providing "tentative" information from the scene at 12:30 p.m., Morris County Prosecutor Robert Carroll said that multiple law enforcement agencies responded to the campus after being alerted by school security about 10:30 a.m.

"There was a report by a male subject walking on a path on the Saint Elizabeth campus near the Convent Station train station who encountered another white male estimated to be in his 40s," Carroll said. "There was an exchange between the two, and the subject he encountered said something to the effect of 'Get the [expletive] out of here before you die like the rest."

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The man who reported the incident said he "may have seen a weapon, but no weapon was exposed or pointed at him." Carroll said.

Once the campus was locked down, responding officers conducted a perimeter search and as of 12:30 p.m. were still in the process of a grid search checking classrooms and other locations "to be sure," Carroll said.

"But in a nutshell, we don’t have a subject, we don’t have a firearm," he said.

Carroll added: "The stuff on social media now is inaccurate. It’s a report of a person with a gun that is under active investigation."

"I guess out of an abundance of caution, some of the adjacent schools went into lockdown," he said. "I don’t think that’s necessary, but that’s an individual decision made by the schools."

Drew University senior Addie Roth said students there were advised via text of the events unfolding at Saint Elizabeth, but were advised there was no threat and they could continue classes. Forty-five minutes later, at about noon, a second text ordered a shelter-in-place.

"I was outside for class, so we just went in the nearest building," the Earlville, N.Y., native said.

She ended up waiting in the Faulkner House lounge with about seven other people for three hours before the shelter-in-place was lifted at 3:03 p.m.

"I think at first we were very unsure," Roth said. "One of my professors suggested that we should go upstairs to a room with less windows and kind of hunker down. Which we didn't end up doing. But she was very concerned about that."

The NJ Transit Morris and Essex Train Line was suspended in both directions between Morristown and Madison due to police activity. They asked customers to seek alternate transportation.

Saint Elizabeth officials later took to social media to confirm there was no active shooter on campus, but advised students not already there to stay home for the day. The Saint Elizabeth campus straddles the border of Florham Park and Morris Township.

The search and investigation were led by officers from the Morris County Prosecutor's Office, the county Sheriff's Department and Morris Township police. Florham Park police are among the supporting agencies at the scene.

Founded as an all-girls college in 1899 by the Sisters of Charity, Saint Elizabeth went co-ed in 2016 and achieved university status in 2020.

On Instagram, Fairleigh Dickinson University alerted its nearby Florham Park campus to shelter in place and urged anyone not on campus to stay away, adding that local police were investigating the incident.

William Westhoven is a local reporter for DailyRecord.com. For unlimited access to the most important news from your local community, please subscribe or activate your digital account today.

Email: wwesthoven@dailyrecord.com 

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This article originally appeared on NorthJersey.com: St. Elizabeth University lockdowns lifted, no shooter found