TOWNSHIP OF WASHINGTON—Employees have returned and the store is open for business, but local police are investigating a bomb threat reported late afternoon on Friday, May 3 at the Fresh Grocer, 315 Pascack Road.
WTPD Cpl. Chris Osenbruck shared a statement with Pascack Press at 7:30 p.m. saying the WTPD responded immediately upon receiving a call from a Fresh Grocer employee saying they were told in a call “there was a male party in the store with a bomb.” On arrival, said Osenbruck, WTPD closed down the north end of the shopping center to investigate, the Washington Township Volunteer Fire Department was put on standby as a precaution, and the Bergen County Sheriff’s Office Bomb Squad and K9 unit was requested.
“They responded and conducted a precautionary sweep which yielded negative results. The Washington Township Police Department would like to inform everyone that after our investigation on scene, it was determined there is no indication of an active threat or harm to anyone,” said the statement.
Osenbruck said the investigation is being conducted by the Washington Township Police Department under the direction of Chief John Calamari. “No other information is available at this time as the matter is still under an active investigation.”
Residents are on edge after the high school, also in the township, was placed on lockdown Thursday at the start of the school day, with all other schools in the regional school district affected by the heightened security alert. It was the second time in nearly three weeks that the high school went into lockdown, both cases blamed on a system malfunction.