MAPLEWOOD -- A 15-year-old New Jersey boy has been brought up on a host of charges, including terroristic threats and aggravated assault, after authorities said he brought a toy gun to school and threatened a classmate with it.
The ninth grader at Columbia High School was arrested following a lock-down at the school on Dec. 3, and has now been charged with possession of an imitation firearm, false public alarm, terroristic threats, aggravated assault, and possession of a weapon in an educational institution, Maplewood Captain Dawn Williams said in a release Monday.
According to Williams, the boy had a toy gun in school that had the safety feature identifying it as a toy taken off. Multiple students saw the boy with the gun, and reported it to building administration, police said.
The boy then showed the gun to a 14-year-old classmate during an interaction that "caused (the younger boy) to become fearful that the weapon would be used against him," Williams said in the release.
The school alerted police and had students shelter-in-place while the threat was investigated, officials said.
No other information about the nature of the boys' altercation or what potential penalties the 15-year-old is facing was immediately available.
The incident marked the second such scare in the high school in as many months. In November, a ninth grader was charged after making a threat against the school on Twitter.
Last school year, the school community reacted to two serious weapons threats - one in which a seventh grader brought a loaded gun to a South Orange Maplewood middle school, and one in which a high schooler brought an airsoft gun and knife to Columbia High.
Jessica Mazzola may be reached at jmazzola@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @JessMazzola. Find NJ.com on Facebook.