Two students have been charged with juvenile delinquency and released to their parents following mass evacuations at their New Jersey high school Friday linked to the release of pepper spray, officials said Monday.
Police in South Brunswick said Monday that it was notified around lunchtime the day of the incident that several students reported eye and throat irritation following exposure to a chemical odor in a science classroom.
The school had already been evacuated by the time they arrived at the scene, with about 3,000 students and staff forced outside the building.
The Middlesex County Hazardous Materials Team was called to assist in the investigation, as were fire departments from Monmouth Junction, Kendall Park and Kingston and first aid squads from multiple jurisdictions as well.
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The chemical irritant was identified as pepper spray after more than an hour of investigation, officials said. The building was ventilated and everyone was permitted to head back inside.
According to detectives, one of the two juveniles charged, a boy, brought a canister of pepper spray to class and was showing it to other students when another boy, also a student, took it and sprayed the contents into two lab sinks.
The discharge caused other students to be exposed, leading to the evacuation of the entire school and the full-scale emergency response, police said.
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In total, 23 emergency vehicles and 46 first responders were involved in the response. No significant injuries were reported.
