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Putnam County resident Alexander Welsh of Cold Spring, age 28, was arrested on Monday, May 15 after allegedly lighting off fireworks near Haldane Elementary School in Cold Spring, causing it to go into lockdown, according to Captain Michael Grossi of the Putnam County Sheriff's Office.
On Monday around 12:20 p.m., the sheriff's deputy assigned to the Haldane Central School District as a school resource officer was outside of the district office when he heard what he believed were gunshots in the vicinity of the school.
He then began moving toward the school and heard more popping sounds that were also heard by school district staff.
The school was then put into lockdown, and all students outside of the building were taken inside as numerous police agencies responded to the scene.
Soon after, a resident in the area told deputies that they saw smoke coming from the area of a residence on Mountain Avenue around the time that they heard what they believed were fireworks.
Authorities then found what appeared to be freshly exploded fireworks in the yard of 34 Mountain Ave., according to Grossi.
When police tried interviewing the occupants of the residence, they were uncooperative. This led to investigators obtaining a search warrant, which they executed around 7 p.m.
After the search, Welsh was taken into custody and charged with:
- Second-degree criminal possession of cannabis;
- Seventh-degree criminal possession of a controlled substance;
- Second-degree criminal nuisance.
He was processed and issued an appearance ticket for the Town of Philipstown Court to appear at a later date, Grossi said.
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