New Jersey School Locked Down After Video Game Conversation Is Mistaken for Gun Threat

A school in New Jersey was locked down for several hours after a student overheard classmates talking about video games and mistook it for a threat about a person with a gun in the school, officials say.

Hillsborough High School in Hillsborough was locked down for several hours Thursday -- on the second day of school -- after the student reported the threat, the school said in a letter to parents.

It was quickly determined that there was no actual threat and that the school was safe, the school said.

The students stayed in the rooms they were in during the lockdown for about 15 minutes after the all-clear was given before continuing to their next classes.

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"I cannot thank you enough for your cooperation as parents, for how well-behaved the students were, and for the leadership of their teachers," principal Karen Bingert said in a letter to parents. "I am always proud to be the principal of Hillsborough High School but never more so than when we all pull together in an emergency and take such good care of each other and the wonderful students entrusted to us each day."