Police swarm Hypertherm building over false alarm of active shooter

First responders linger at the scene after clearing a Hypertherm facility following an active shooter alarm at 21 Great Hollow Road in Hanover, N.H., on Thursday, May 12, 2022. All of the nearly 100 employees that were in the building when the alarm went off were evacuated and accounted for. “It looks like it was a false alarm,” Hanover Chief of Police Charlie Dennis said. (Valley News / Report For America - Alex Driehaus) Copyright Valley News. May not be reprinted or used online without permission. Send requests to permission@vnews.com. Valley News / Report For America — Alex Driehaus
Mike Schibuola, of the Hanover Police Department, right, directs Mike Oeschger, of Global Security, middle, to the front entrance of Hypertherm on Great Hollow Road in Hanover, N.H., where there was a false alarm for an active shooter on Thursday, May 12, 2022. Five Upper Valley Police agencies and the New Hampshire State Police responded to the alarm at the cutting systems manufacturer. Canaan Police Chief Sam Frank stands at left. (Valley News - James M. Patterson) Copyright Valley News. May not be reprinted or used online without permission. Send requests to permission@vnews.com. James M. Patterson
A police officer patrols outside Hypertherm on Great Hollow Road in Hanover, N.H., after a false alarm for an active shooter on Thursday afternoon, May 12, 2022. The alarm came in at 4:50 p.m. and the building was cleared shortly before 6 p.m. said Mike Schibuola of the Hanover Police Department. Hanover, Lebanon, Enfield, Plainfield, and Canaan Police Departments responded and Great Hollow Road was closed as police evacuated employees of the cutting systems manufacturer at the end of their work day. (Valley News - James M. Patterson) Copyright Valley News. May not be reprinted or used online without permission. Send requests to permission@vnews.com. James M. Patterson

Published: 5/12/2022 10:11:21 PM

Modified: 5/12/2022 10:11:21 PM

HANOVER — Police forces from towns around the Upper Valley and New Hampshire State Police swarmed to Hypertherm in Hanover in response to an active shooter alarm sounding late Thursday afternoon, leading police to secure the area and evacuate about 100 employees from a plant building on Great Hollow Road before determining it was a false alarm.

The alarm came in at 4:36 p.m., and police gave the all-clear signal at 5:53 p.m., according to Hanover Police Chief Charlie Dennis.

“We sent contact teams inside, were able to clear the building, got the existing employees that were there — about a hundred of them — out of the building, and all have been accounted for,” Dennis said at the scene on Thursday. “Basically, it looks like it was a false alarm.”

Police departments from Hanover, Lebanon, Enfield, Plainfield, Canaan and Lyme, in addition to New Hampshire state troopers, all responded, Dennis said, involving “more than a dozen” units.

“It appears someone activated the Alertus button and then ran off,” Hypertherm spokesperson Michelle Avila said via email.

“There was never an active shooter,” she said, adding that the company is investigating the situation.

Hypertherm’s Great Hollow Road plant experienced another false active shooter alarm in 2020, resulting in a similar wide response from area police departments. In that incident, the alarm was accidentally set off during a test of the system.

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