Lockdown at Parsippany Hills High School

PARSIPPANY –

With their children still inside the building, anxious parents assembled outside Parsippany Hills High School on a snowy spring Tuesday while a police investigation was underway and a lockdown in place.

The lockdown, announced about 2 p.m., was lifted without incident by about 3 p.m. as some parents abandoned their cars in the traffic backup to greet their children when they saw them walking up the road.

Most of the students exiting the school were smiling and laughing. "They didn't tell us anything," one student said. "We had no idea what was going on."

A Parsippany Police Department statement later refuted a rumor spreading through the parent assembly about a gun being found inside the school.

"Today's security incident was due to a report that a gun was possibly on school grounds at the Parsippany Hills High School. A lockdown immediately went into effect as a precaution to safeguard the students and faculty while officers responded and conducted their investigation. The incident turned out to be unfounded and the lockdown was lifted."

Before the lockdown was lifted, there were some tense moment outside.

One man engaged in an angry confrontation with the single police officer blocking the entrance to the school at the corner of Medford and Glencove roads.

"My daughter is in there crying," the man said. "If I ride down there, are you going to arrest me? And shoot me?"

Another parent of a student inside the school, former township police captain and school board member James Carifi, who knew the man, came over to help calm him down.

At the same corner, two moms, Jodie Lipuma and Jen Nazziola, were communicating via phone with their sophomore children. Lipuma said she spoke to her son, Christopher.

"He has no idea what's going on," Lipuma said.

Nazziola received a text from her daughter, Marina. "She says she's flipping out. I'm kind of freaking out."

Like many of the parents waiting for the lockdown to end, Nazziola said she received an alert from the district's School Messenger Notification System, informing them the school was on lockdown and "not to come to the school."

"But it was very close to the time you already would have left to come here (to pick them up)," Nazziola said.

Nazziola said she was watching a TV news report of a lockdown earlier in the day at public schools in Holmdel, where no danger was found and the incident is being investigated as a hoax.

"Isn't that lovely?" Nazziola said of the timing.

The police statement also thanked the public for its patience and asked that, in the future, "during these incidents, our social media viewers refrain from posting what they may have heard as this is often derived from rumor and could cause the circulation of misinformation.

"In addition, as hard as it may be for parents, we urge them not to respond directly to the school grounds or attempt to enter the school as this may jeopardize the safety of all involved. Once the initial investigation has begun, additional personnel will eventually be available to assist parents on where to park and wait for the scene to be cleared."

The Parsippany Board of Education also released a statement after the incident, saying "We would like to thank the staff and students at Parsippany Hills and the Parsippany-Troy Hills Police Department responders for their cooperation and quick response."

"Our staff and students are trained for lockdown situations and they responded admirably and appropriately as per our training and drills conducted regularly," the statement continued. "The (board) has committed to the implementation of a daily full-time school resource officer provided through the Parsippany-Troy Hills Police Department, who was onsite and active throughout today's situation

Staff Writer William Westhoven: 973-428-6627; wwesthoven@dailyrecord.com.