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A Tuesday morning bomb threat to the Motor Vehicle Commission on Third Avenue resulted in officials evacuating the building and placing the neighboring Bradley Elementary School on a temporary lockdown, Deputy Chief David Kelso said.

Asbury Park Police Officers responded near 9:47 a.m to the 1010 Comstock Street location, department spokesman Sgt Michael Casey said.

He said the APPD learned an employee on scene received a phone call from an unidentified female caller who stated that she would “blow the place up,” Casey said. The staff and customers were safely evacuated from the building.”

“Explosive K9 units from the Monmouth County Sheriff’s Office and New Jersey State Police conducted a search of the premise which yielded negative results,” Casey said. “Due to the proximity of the MVC building to the Bradley Elementary School, a portion of the
school was placed in a lock down status. Upon clearing the premise, both the MVC and the school resumed normal activities.”

Superintendent Sancha Gray said the district opted to be proactive when it learned of the nearby threat and implemented the lockdown, which lasted between 45 to 50 minutes.

“When the concern was brought to our attention, we just followed our security protocol,” Gray said. “Thankfully it was a false bomb scare.”

Gray said their security team worked closely with law enforcement and that parents were not contacted in order to allow law enforcement to investigate without concerns of family members rushing to the scene.

“We did send a notice home with the students to inform parents of what occured,” Gray said.

The incident remains under investigation by the Asbury Park Police Department’s Detective Bureau as well as the Monmouth County Prosecutor’s Office, Casey said.

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