Schools locked down after incident at Public Library of New London

New London — An altercation between two men, one armed with a gun, at the public library Monday morning led to a lockdown of local schools and the arrest of a convicted felon on gun possession charges.

At 11:33 a.m., police said officers responded to a 911 call and report of a disturbance involving two men at the Huntington Street library. One of the men was reported to have a gun.

When police arrived, they found the man reported to have the gun had fled. The other man spoke to police while officers started a search for the armed man and contacted area schools, police said. The nearby ISAAC School and the Regional Multicultural Magnet School initiated lock-down protocols, police said.

After an intense search of the surrounding area, police said Taj Johnson, 23, was found and arrested at 11:42 a.m., about 10 minutes after the initial report, in the area of Crystal Avenue and State Pier Road. A stolen .380 semi-automatic pistol was recovered during his arrest.

Johnson is charged with first-degree threatening, breach of peace, third-degree assault, possession of a firearm by a convicted felon and possession of a pistol without a permit and theft of a firearm.

Police said Johnson’s arrest may be associated with other ongoing investigations.

Johnson has several past criminal convictions including a one-year prison sentence in 2014 for a conviction on the charge of carrying a dangerous weapon, court records show.