Gilroy
– The Rod Kelley Elementary School campus was locked down
briefly Tuesday afternoon, after two students reported seeing a man
near campus with what appeared to be a gun in his hand.
By Lori Stuenkel
Gilroy – The Rod Kelley Elementary School campus was locked down briefly Tuesday afternoon, after two students reported seeing a man near campus with what appeared to be a gun in his hand.
Gilroy police officers completed a search of the neighborhood but did not find the man in question, and the lockdown was lifted after 25 minutes.
Principal Luis Carrillo said in a letter sent home to parents that two students told him they saw the man just before 12:50pm. The two third-graders said they saw a man, whom they described as Hispanic, about 24 years old, wearing a baseball cap, long-sleeved black shirt, and jeans, said Gilroy police Sgt. Kurt Svardal. The children reported seeing the man near a brick wall located on the north side of the 8755 Kern Ave. campus.
After calling 911, Carrillo instituted a precautionary lockdown, in which staff and students lock themselves inside classrooms, with blinds closed, until an all-clear signal is given.
“We came out, searched and searched, and found nothing,” Svardal said.
The lockdown was lifted about 1:15pm, after which the students participated in a previously scheduled bus evacuation drill. Classroom by classroom, they boarded school buses to learn about emergency exits and safe evacuation procedures.
The Gilroy Police Department will continue to investigate, and information will be posted on the Gilroy Unified School District Web site.
Rod Kelley’s lockdown came two months after a similar occurrence at the Luigi Aprea campus, when two students also reported seeing a man with a gun. No arrests have been made in that case, Svardal said.
