Schools lock down doors after report of gun-toting
By Daily Press staff
Erring on the side of caution, district officials locked down both John Muir Elementary and the nearby SMASH Alternative School for roughly two hours on Tuesday afternoon after a nearby resident reported seeing a man carrying a gun.
The resident called the Santa Monica Police Department at 12:21 p.m., and officers dispatched to the area surrounding Los Amigos Park stopped a male suspect matching the description more than an hour later. No weapon was found.
The lockdown, initiated by school officials and not the SMPD, required students to stay indoors at their respective school campuses. John Muir Elementary is located at 2526 6th St., and SMASH Alternative is situated at 2525 5th St.
“We did a precautionary lockdown that went flawlessly,” said John Deasy, schools superintendent for the Santa Monica-Malibu Unified District.
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on February 2, 2005. Read the original PDF.