Hanover Park Lockdown Precautionary, Police Say

Hanover Park High School in East Hanover temporarily was locked down on Friday afternoon in connection with a search for a man who struck a woman with the butt end of a gun in Morristown, police said.

The man eventually surrendered to police around 6 p.m. after barricading himself in his Livingston home, and Florham Park police officers were among the departments who responded to the two and half hour standoff.

East Hanover Police Lt. Robert McColgan said the high school lockdown was "precautionary" because a vehicle involved in the Morristown incident was believed to be in the area, but there never was any indication the vehicle was headed for the high school.

Morristown Police said authorities had been searching for an armed, dangerous and possibly suicidal man who allegedly struck his estranged wife in the back of the head with the butt end of a gun near Morristown Medical Center around noon. The 54-year-old man, identified by police as Donald Ebert, was located at his home in Livingston and surrendered to police over the phone.

Livingston, Madison and Florham Park police lined the street where Ebert barricaded himself, and SWAT teams from Livingston and Florham Park were at the scene.

The Morristown incident did not occur inside the hospital, which remained open and accepting patients.