Police presence heightened at schools across Delaware Valley after Texas shooting
TRENTON, New Jersey (WPVI) -- As parents sent their kids off to school on Wednesday morning, hearts were heavy.
"I put myself in those parents' shoes," said mother Alejandra Dominguez of Pennsauken, NJ. "Like what if, God forbid, it would've happened to me? I would've been crazy."
The morning after the deadly mass shooting at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, police departments throughout the region patrolled schools, including in Gloucester Township.
"Not because there was a threat, not because of anything. But I know - for the children's sake - we want them to see that today is going to be a safe day," said Gloucester Twp. Police Chief David Harkins.
Since the mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in 2012 in Newtown, Connecticut, district officials in South Jersey say significant security upgrades have been made like school resource officers, active shooter drills.
Safety vestibules have also been installed at the entrance of 9 of 11 district schools so far.
Superintendent John Bilodeau spoke about the protocols at Blackwood Elementary School.
"There are a lot of different protocols. If a staff member walks in and there's a total stranger in here, we're not opening the door because we don't know what the stranger is here for yet," said Bilodeau.
In Gloucester Twp., officials say there are still more improvements that can be made at schools.
Bilodeau wants to upgrade surveillance cameras inside and outside of all schools.
He says there is always a need for more state and federal funding for security measures.
Earlier this month, the School District of Philadelphia started random metal detector screenings for middle school students after guns started turning up.
On Wednesday, Democratic New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy called on state lawmakers to vote on a third gun safety package.
The bill includes measures that would require guns to be stored in a lockbox or safe, require a gun safety course before purchasing a gun, and ban the sale of firearms 50 caliber or higher.
Murphy introduced the package last year.
He also called for recently introduced gun rights bills to be put up for a vote.
"I ask the Legislature to immediately put up every bill seeking to unravel our gun laws, too. Let's make every legislator show whose side they have chosen to be on - the people of New Jersey's or the gun lobby's," said Murphy during a news conference on Wednesday.
A spokesperson for NJ Senate Republicans called Gov. Murphy's remarks about the gun rights bills "false and inaccurate."
