A bomb squad was summoned to Forest and 4th Street in Lakewood at around 8 am Sunday morning for a potentially serious threat after a call came in for a device that appears to be a grenade taped to a utility pole.
A bomb squad investigated the device and removed it from the utility pole. The Ocean County Prosecutor’s Office later said the grenade was real, but was not loaded with explosives.
An investigation is still being conducted by multiple state agencies into the circumstances regarding the potential threat.
The Anti-Defamation League said that “at a time when communities are already experiencing a rise in hate, a grenade outside of a synagogue stokes fear in Lakewood, NJ, a hub of American Jewish religious life. We urge law enforcement to thoroughly investigate this threat, and as a community, we will stay vigilant but we must not be intimidated.”
