'All hands on deck': Gloucester Township police find missing 14-year-old boy safe

GLOUCESTER TWP., N.J. - Gloucester Township police say a missing 14-year-old boy has been found safe.

The teen was reported missing Wednesday afternoon and was located around 7 p.m. after an extensive search.

"We don't mess around with these type of situations," Gloucester Township Police Chief David Harkins said. "It was all hands on deck, we had all detectives, all officers, our dispatcher, and community out here doing what they had to do."

Police made maps as they fanned out across the area from the ground with search dogs and from the air. 

"This young man is on our registry that the family voluntarily provided us. We have his picture on file. We know what might alert him or scare him, like sirens things like that," Harkins said.

Harkins says the teen had his cell phone with him and was texting friends, which helped them located him. After about four hours of searching and daylight fading, they were able to zero in on some woods not too far from the staging area at Glen Landing Middle School in Blackwood.

"He was coming out of the woods. He was a little bit scared and we understand that, so we let him come out and we were able to spot him and we peacefully took him into custody," Harkins added.

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