F-16 Jet Fires On NJ School

[Kire]

F-16 Jet Fires On NJ School
LITTLE EGG HARBOR, N.J., Nov. 4, 2004


A National Guard F-16 fighter jet on a nighttime training mission strafed an elementary school with 25 rounds of ammunition, authorities said Thursday. No one was injured.

The military is investigating the incident that damaged Little Egg Harbor Intermediate School shortly after 11 p.m.

Police were called when a custodian who was the only person in the school at the time heard what sounded like someone running across the roof.

Police Chief Mark Siino said officers noticed punctures in the roof. Ceiling tiles had fallen into classrooms, and there were scratch marks in the asphalt outside.

The pilot of the single-seat jet was supposed to fire at a target on the ground three and half miles away from school, said Col. Brian Webster, commander of the 177th Fighter Wing of the New Jersey Air National Guard. He does not know what happened that led to the school getting shot up.

The plane was 7,000 feet in the air when the shots were fired. The gun, an M61-A1 Vulcan cannon, is located in the plane's left wing. It fires 2-inch-long bullets that are made of lead and do not explode, said Webster.

"The National Guard takes this situation very seriously," said Lt. Col. Roberta Niedt, a spokeswoman for the state Department of Military and Veterans Affairs. "The safety of our people and the surrounding communities are our foremost concern."

Schools in New Jersey were closed Thursday because of a teachers convention.

More: http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2004/11/04/national/main653804.shtml

[Turbineguy]

1. Don't tell me.....

Bush has taken up flying again.

[madinmaryland]

2. Why the hell is a fight jet

firing ammo in New Jersey? The population is so dense in that state that it is bound to hit something.

:wtf:

thats just downright stupid.

[PfNJ]

5. Warren Grove Gunnery Range

Believe it or not, there's a huge bombing range only 3 miles from that school, in the Pine Barrens, I believe it is one of only two or three on the entire east coast.

http://www.nj.com/search/index.ssf?/base/news-18/109964233450600.xml?starledger?ntop

"According to the U.S. Department of Defense, nearly 2,000 jet and helicopter sorties are flown over the range each year."



It has been in use since WWII, when the area was nowhere near as built up as it is today, and the range should really be phased out of use. This isn't the first incident to happen there, either. Stray bombs have caused forest fires more than once, and an F-16 actually crashed near the Parkway a couple of years ago.




"The pilot returned the plane to its home base at Andrews Air Force Base in Maryland after the shooting."


You guys sent him!!!!!!! :nuke: ;-)

[Lenape85]

3. As the freepers would say

"Who cares, this is a blue state school, they probably mandate that kids learn wicca and homosexuality"

[CO Liberal]

4. "That'll Teach 'em Fer Tellin' Our Young-uns About Evolution...."

:-)