Madison Schools Lockdown Precautionary, Police Say

Madison schools were locked down Friday afternoon as a precaution while police in several towns searched for an armed, dangerous and possibly suicidal man who allegedly struck a woman with the butt end of a gun in Morristown.

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

By around 2:30 p.m., the Madison schools lockdown was over and all schools had normal dismissals and afterschool activities, police said in a Nixle alert.

Hanover Park High School in East Hanover also was locked down temporarily. East Hanover police said it was in connection with the search for the man in the alleged assault in Morristown.

East Hanover Police Lt. Robert McColgan said the Hanover Park 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.