Police arrested a reportedly armed Elizabeth man this afternoon after leading police on a chase through Linden streets causing a city school to be place on a brief lockdown.
Police received a report of a man chasing two other people while carrying a handgun on E. 13th St. and Woodlawn Avenue at approximately at 1:26 p.m. today.
Responding officers observed a suspect enter a 1998 green Chevy Cavalier and speed away from the scene. Officers pursued the vehicle for several blocks before it stopped on W. 17th St., and the driver bailed out.
Officers observed the driver, who was carrying a handgun on his waistband, take off on foot through several backyards. Linden Public School # 2, which is located on S. Wood Ave. between W. 17th St. and W. 18th St., was placed on a brief lockdown as a precaution.
The suspect, later identified as Gavin D. Flagler, 23, of Elizabeth, was apprehended as he emerged from a backyard on W. 15th St. The handgun was located on the ground in the backyard of a nearby home.
Assisting in the arrest of Flagler were several off-duty Linden officers who were doing a traffic assignment in the neighborhood for the water company.
Flagler has been charged with unlawful possession of a weapon, eluding police, and resisting arrest. He is awaiting the setting of bail by a judge. The other two people involved in the incident have not been located. The investigation is continuing by the Detective Bureau.