By Susan C. Moeller / Senior Reporter

NORTH ARLINGTON (March 15, 2010, 2:30 p.m.) — North Arlington public schools were locked down for one hour Monday, March 15 after a man was spotted carrying a sawed-off shotgun in the vicinity of the middle school, according to police.

A resident called the department at approximately 10:47 a.m. to report a man walking with a gun in the Park Avenue and Devon Street area. The middle school, located nearby, was put on lockdown right away, according to North Arlington Police Capt. John Hearn.

The next report came from a Department of Public Works employee who saw the man, described as white or Hispanic in his 20s, put the gun in the trunk of a silver Mitsubishi and drive away, Hearn continued.

At that point, all of the other schools were put on lockdown while police searched the borough for the car. When the search came up empty, and officers were satisfied that the man was not near the schools, the lockdown status was removed, at 11:45 a.m.

The investigation is ongoing; police have yet to determine why the man was carrying the gun down the street, Hearn said.

Officers are looking up gun registration records of residents in the area, to determine if any of them also have a car that matches the description given by the DPW worker.