A bomb threat has prompted the evacuation at the Freehold Raceway mall moments ago, sources on scene tell TLS.
The incident comes just one week after the Ocean County Mall was evacuated due to a similar threat.
One shopper wrote on Twitter, “We walk into freehold mall and a cop holding an assault rifle at the entrance tells us we don’t wanna be here it’s like the Boston marathon.”
Sources on scene tell TLS that swarms of people are seen coming out of the mall after police announced the lockdown.
Dozens of law enforcement officers – including the Monmouth County Sheriff’s Office – are on scene, and an investigation is underway.
The incident was first reported by TLS on our news alerts (@LakewoodScoop).
UPDATE: 8:45 PM. Authorities have given the all-clear, determining there is no threat at the mall, according to sources.
[TLS-TM/TLS-LF/TLS-YJ/TLS-50]
—————————————-
This content, and any other content on TLS, may not be republished or reproduced without prior permission from TLS
Stay up to date via our news alerts, by sending ‘follow LakewoodScoop’ to the number ‘40404’ or via Twitter @LakewoodScoop
I work at express and they never told us what was going on till we asked and were never told to close or leave the mall
I work in the mall and they did not evacuate anyone, they only evacuated a portion. Not concerned for everyone’s safety I guess.
Um yeah. My best friend and I were shopping and no one said a word! We were told “there’s extreme police activity ” when we question caution tape. they were just letting us roam the mall.
So irresponsible of them not to tell customers what was happening. My wife and kids were told it was closing due to tornado warning. I knew that was (moderated) because they wouldn’t let them out through Nordstrom where the car was parked and they saw bomb sniffing dogs at the exit of Macy’s
i work at jcpenney’s and no one told us what was going on we had to here from our customers and when we asked management what was going on they had nothing to tell us and mall security never contacted us and we are still currently open with customers. This is rediculous that they cannot contact all the mall stores and employees to let us know why is going on, if one portion of the mall is being evacuated, the whole mall should be. I thought everyone’s safety was important but obviously not.
This is crazy what happens when the bomb threat iis real let people in one part die?
This is false. I work there it was a water pipe that broke and started to flood. Why would they evacuate a portion of the mall and not the rest.
I was in Microsoft Store the whole time. Same story, the JC Penny side of the mall was not evacuated or even notified. Police tape closed off from Starbucks over.
I work at Chick-fil-A and they had us evacuate immediately and we could not return to our store until much later, about 9pm because we were in the heart of the threat. We were told what was going on and evacuated asap. The whole mall should’ve been evacuated.
How dare they employees and people shop knowing the possibility of a bomb in the mall. My daughter was working and they weren’t informed until one hour later that they should leave. What do they teach in these employees safety mtgs. That went out the door. Safety for the customer and employees should always be number ine.
I would love to know who makes the call for this kind of situations. Clearly they need to be fired. Customers and employees were never made aware of this. The only thing was an announcement over the intercom the the freehold raceway mall was closed. Thats it!!! No explanation as to what is going on. Which by the way I can barely hear in the store!!!!
@Tee It wasn’t false. I work there, too. Why would they EVACUATE half the mall for a water pipe flood? Doesn’t make sense if you ask me. The police would have told us that when we asked. They wouldn’t have avoided any questions. AND security would have answered their line when we called them.
Everyone calm down. I disagree with all you people. If they say there’s a bomb threat all you is is cause panic. And that helps no one. As long as they get everyone out it’s good enough. And if they know exactly where the threat is they can just evacuate that part of the building. It’s a very big building and the whole structure isn’t in danger from a bomb. So I fully agree with the authorities on this one.
Wow
I didn’t know so many freehold mall employees live in Lakewood 😉
There was a bomb threat and they didn’t tell everyone because they did not want everyone freaking out. So everyone needs to shut up, you’re just annoying. The police are trained for this type of situation. So they know excatly what they are doing. Even if it doesn’t make sense to you
I work at the mall and they made us leave our store. 30 mins later at 6:30 they said it was clear to return. When we came back half of the mall was evacuated and had bomb sniffing dogs going all over the place. We didn’t return back to the store and we saw over a dozen police cars just by the ruby Tuesday entrance. When I asked one of the mall security guards if we should go back to work, he said “I wouldn’t, try back tomorrow”!!!! This was crazy
I just would like to say, after reading ANON’s comment. No one knew if there was a bomb what size it was & how much of the mall could have blew up. It could have taken the whole mall out; therefore, everyone should have been evacuated starting with Penny ‘s at least until they knew more. Also u don’t use bomb dogs for a broken water pipe or the police.