On Dec. 7 at 3:49 p.m., Evesham Police received a 911 call stating a Van Zant Elementary School parent had witnessed a male armed with a handgun in the yard of the school.
A second parent who also observed the male also contacted her husband, who was state trooper.
According to Evesham Police, the school’s officials immediately activated lockdown procedures, and upon their arrival, members of the ETPD ran toward a male who was crouched down in the area of the school’s basketball courts.
As Evesham officers were closing in, two off-duty NJSP troopers also found and tackled the male, Evesham police said.
After other Evesham officers searched the school for any additional threats, police determined the male had acted alone.
Evesham police believe the male, who was identified as a 14-year old Marlton resident, did not have any intentions of harming any students, teachers or residents. Instead, police said the male commented to his arresting officers that he planned to force Evesham police to shoot him as part of a suicide attempt.
Upon his arrest, police said the male was charged with aggravated assault, unlawful possession of a weapon, terroristic threats and criminal trespass.
According to police, the male was then taken to a mental health facility for further evaluation.
Although police initially reported the firearm was a toy gun, police said they later determined the weapon was a steel, replica handgun that police were only able to determine the exact nature of after a later, physical examination.
The incident also prompted Mayor Randy Brown to release a statement once again calling for armed police officers to be stationed in all of the township’s individual elementary and middle schools.
According to township officials, through several days of positive discussions between the township and school district in the days following the Van Zant Incident, the township agreeed to staff each ETSD school with a police officer through the end of December. Township officials said those officers would be current personal and would be assigned to each school on a daily basis, the cost of which would be funded through the township’s existing operating budget.
According to township officials the intention is to then determine a long-term plan between the township, the police department and the school district.
Under normal circumstances Evesham Police have four, part-time officers assigned to the Evesham Township School District as a whole, with the school district and township splitting the cost.
In the past Brown has been a proponent of having an officer at every school, and noted he has had multiple discussions about the issue with Evesham Township School District officials and board of education members since the 2012 mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Connecticut, where an intruder fatally shot 20 children and six adult staff members.
Brown has also publically raised the issue at several township council meetings late last year and throughout this year when he and council approved the township’s portion of the funding for the four, part-time officers who serve the district.
“Our most precious gift are our children, in these times we must be proactive and preventative when making security decisions regarding our children,” Brown said. “Let’s make sure our head and hearts are in the right place.”
After the incident, Evesham police said the officers who searched the school for additional threats were impressed with how the school enacted and performed its established lockdown procedures and commended the school for its actions during the incident.
Evesham police also commended the off-duty NJSP troopers and Evesham officers for their actions.
