Gunnery practice on ... elementary school?
F-16 mistakenly strafes N.J. elementary school
The New York Times
Published on: 11/05/04
It sounded like somebody running across the roof of the elementary school in a New Jersey township on Wednesday night, said the cleaning woman who called the police. No prowler was found. But on Thursday, what had seemed a minor item in a police blotter touched off state and federal military investigations after it was disclosed that an F-16 fighter had strafed the school with cannon fire.
The Air National Guard plane, flying a night training mission out of Andrews Air Force Base near Washington, fired a burst of 27 rounds from its 20mm cannon shortly before 10:15 p.m. as it streaked over Little Egg Harbor Township, 20 miles north of Atlantic City, New Jersey military officials said on Thursday night.
Ray Cembor/AP
Five slugs were found in the school parking lot, and 14 others apparently came down harmlessly in the neighborhood.
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Col. Brian Webster, commander of the 177th Fighter Wing of the New Jersey Air National Guard, said that the pilot, who was not identified, fired the cannon inadvertently just as he turned into a dive to strafe a target at the Warren Grove firing range in Ocean County, a sprawling military reservation that has been used for bombing and strafing practice since World War II.
The pilot was to have fired the half-second burst of shells well into the dive, at about 5,000 feet, the colonel said, but instead the cannon went off at an altitude of 7,000 feet, and at least eight of the bullets — non-explosive lead slugs more than 2 inches long — crashed through the roof of Little Egg Harbor Intermediate School, three miles south of the target range. No one was hurt, and the damage was minor.
It was unclear whether any other structures were hit. Five slugs were found in the school parking lot, and 14 others apparently came down harmlessly in the neighborhood, where houses are set far apart and surrounded by woods. Fewer than 16,000 people live in the 50-square-mile township.
"The National Guard takes this situation very seriously," Lt. Col. Roberta Niedt, a spokesman for the New Jersey Department of Military and Veterans Affairs, said. "The safety of our people and the surrounding communities are our foremost concern."
At the time of the firing, the one-story brick school on Frog Pond Road, two miles south of the Garden State Parkway, was unoccupied except for four members of the night custodial staff. One of them, a woman cleaning a third-grade classroom who asked not to be identified, thought the shots sounded like scurrying footsteps overhead. Concerned about a possible prowler, she called the police.
"It sounded like someone was running across the roof to her," Lt. John O'Brien, of the township police, recalled in an interview on Thursday. Officers were dispatched, but in the darkness they found no one on the roof and no signs of a prowler. The incident was duly recorded in the police log.
On Thursday, however, custodians arriving at the school found 13 cannon slugs — five in a parking lot and eight inside the school in various classrooms and offices, said Fred Zimmerman, the director of instructional services.
The police said there were holes in the roof and in the ceilings and floors of several classrooms, a hallway, and an office. At least one desk was hit, ceiling tiles had fallen in some classrooms, and there were scratch marks on the building's brick exterior.
The school's 970 pupils, in grades three through six, had no classes on Thursday or Friday because the state's teachers were at an annual convention in Atlantic City. They will return on Monday, school officials said.
Michael Dupuis, the president of the township school board, said that residents and school officials were concerned over the incident, but not unduly so, and had no misgivings about living near the firing range. "There will be concerns, but I feel confident that the military has done and is doing everything it can to safeguard against any occurrences of this nature," he said.
F-16 mistakenly strafes N.J. elementary school
The New York Times
Published on: 11/05/04
It sounded like somebody running across the roof of the elementary school in a New Jersey township on Wednesday night, said the cleaning woman who called the police. No prowler was found. But on Thursday, what had seemed a minor item in a police blotter touched off state and federal military investigations after it was disclosed that an F-16 fighter had strafed the school with cannon fire.
The Air National Guard plane, flying a night training mission out of Andrews Air Force Base near Washington, fired a burst of 27 rounds from its 20mm cannon shortly before 10:15 p.m. as it streaked over Little Egg Harbor Township, 20 miles north of Atlantic City, New Jersey military officials said on Thursday night.
Five slugs were found in the school parking lot, and 14 others apparently came down harmlessly in the neighborhood.
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Col. Brian Webster, commander of the 177th Fighter Wing of the New Jersey Air National Guard, said that the pilot, who was not identified, fired the cannon inadvertently just as he turned into a dive to strafe a target at the Warren Grove firing range in Ocean County, a sprawling military reservation that has been used for bombing and strafing practice since World War II.
The pilot was to have fired the half-second burst of shells well into the dive, at about 5,000 feet, the colonel said, but instead the cannon went off at an altitude of 7,000 feet, and at least eight of the bullets — non-explosive lead slugs more than 2 inches long — crashed through the roof of Little Egg Harbor Intermediate School, three miles south of the target range. No one was hurt, and the damage was minor.
It was unclear whether any other structures were hit. Five slugs were found in the school parking lot, and 14 others apparently came down harmlessly in the neighborhood, where houses are set far apart and surrounded by woods. Fewer than 16,000 people live in the 50-square-mile township.
"The National Guard takes this situation very seriously," Lt. Col. Roberta Niedt, a spokesman for the New Jersey Department of Military and Veterans Affairs, said. "The safety of our people and the surrounding communities are our foremost concern."
At the time of the firing, the one-story brick school on Frog Pond Road, two miles south of the Garden State Parkway, was unoccupied except for four members of the night custodial staff. One of them, a woman cleaning a third-grade classroom who asked not to be identified, thought the shots sounded like scurrying footsteps overhead. Concerned about a possible prowler, she called the police.
"It sounded like someone was running across the roof to her," Lt. John O'Brien, of the township police, recalled in an interview on Thursday. Officers were dispatched, but in the darkness they found no one on the roof and no signs of a prowler. The incident was duly recorded in the police log.
On Thursday, however, custodians arriving at the school found 13 cannon slugs — five in a parking lot and eight inside the school in various classrooms and offices, said Fred Zimmerman, the director of instructional services.
The police said there were holes in the roof and in the ceilings and floors of several classrooms, a hallway, and an office. At least one desk was hit, ceiling tiles had fallen in some classrooms, and there were scratch marks on the building's brick exterior.
The school's 970 pupils, in grades three through six, had no classes on Thursday or Friday because the state's teachers were at an annual convention in Atlantic City. They will return on Monday, school officials said.
Michael Dupuis, the president of the township school board, said that residents and school officials were concerned over the incident, but not unduly so, and had no misgivings about living near the firing range. "There will be concerns, but I feel confident that the military has done and is doing everything it can to safeguard against any occurrences of this nature," he said.
TC
