A swatting incident at Rider University caused school officials to ask students and staff members to shelter in place on Monday afternoon, April 3.

At about 1 p.m. on Monday, police in Lawrence responded to a call from university officials to investigate a threat of violence that was received by the public safety department at Rider. The threat was made over the phone.

As a result of the threat, Rider University officials sent out a shelter-in-place notification to students and staff advising them of the potential threat.

Lawrence police officers conducted an investigation on the campus and determined the threat was not credible. The threat was determined to be a swatting event. The shelter-in-place order was lifted just after 2 p.m.

Swatting is making a prank call in an attempt to bring about the dispatch of a large number of armed police officers to a particular address.

Police are actively investigating the swatting incident with the assistance of state and federal law enforcement agencies. No arrests have been made yet.

Anyone with information regarding the swatting incident should call the Lawrence
Township Police Department’s Investigative Division at 609-844-7107 or email Sgt. Kevin
Readingat kreading@lawrencetwp.com