BREAKING: Schools lockdown lifted
BREAKING: Schools lockdown lifted
Updated at 12:40 p.m. Thursday, April 24
Police have arrested a student who they said brandished a BB gun near the Esperanza housing complex this morning.
The suspect's name is not being released because he is a juvenile.
Police got a call at 10:39 a.m. Thursday from the father of an Island High School student who reported the alleged incident as having taken place on school campus, on the 1900 block of Third Street, they said; in an auto-dial message to parents released to the media, schools officials said the student who reported the incident spotted someone across the street from Island High who appeared to have a weapon in his backpack.
Schools officials and police said that a list of West End schools that included Ruby Bridges Elementary School, Nea Community Learning Center, The Academy of Alameda Middle School, Encinal High School, Island High School, Wood Middle School, the Alameda Community Learning Center, Alternatives in Action high school and the College of Alameda were placed on soft lockdowns as a precaution following the report. Franklin Elementary School was also reported to have been placed on lockdown; the district's spokesperson said East End schools were briefly locked down as well.
A teen matching a description of the suspect was spotted at the intersection of Main Street and Ralph Appezzato Memorial Parkway before being located on the former Naval Air Station and arrested at 11:11 a.m. on a brandishing charge, police said. They said he was found to be in possession of a BB gun that looked like a replica of a semi-automatic handgun. He was being interviewed Thursday as the lockdowns were lifted.
Police later determined that the alleged brandishing incident occurred near the Esperanza housing complex, and not on the school campus.
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