Students & parents detail school lockdown at John Kelley Elementary
Students and parents detailed the moments leading up to a lockdown at John Kelley Elementary School, as police searched for an armed man in Thermal on Tuesday.
Some students were a little shaken-up.
“I kind of felt like a little scared, I never knew that when they told me at the end of the lockdown he (suspect) had a weapon,” said Rogelio Felix, a 5th grade student at John Kelley Elementary School.
Reports of a man with a gun seen near the elementary school prompted the lock down. Felix and his brother say they sheltered in place for two hours.
“All the students in the class went back, in the back of the classroom. Everybody went under the tables and they (teachers) just said ‘sit down, be quiet’,” said Felix.
Parents said they are happy to be reunited with their children and are crediting school staff for handling the situation well. According to parents, staff called and alerted them of the lockdown and armed man nearby.
“They (school staff) said they were on lockdown but the kids were safe and everything, but still, we were afraid that something was happening by the school because I saw the helicopter too,” said Patricia Diaz, a mother of three John Kelley students.
The Riverside County Sheriff’s Department say they deployed all available resources including; helicopters, police dogs, a swat team, and several deputies narrowing in on a field around the corner from the school. That’s the area where police say the suspect ran toward after abandoning a car on the side of the road.
There was also a heavy police presence on and around campus.
“Some policemen came into my classroom and asked if they were all okay and my substitute teacher said we were all okay and that no one got hurt,” said a 6th grade student, Ruby Diaz.
After school pick-up continued as scheduled with deputies surveying the area. About 100 students stayed on campus for after-school programs until those students parents received another call from school officials.
“They (school officials) said that because the suspect was still at large that the school was being evacuated and that I needed to pick up my kids,” said another parent, Daisy Moreno.
The district offices and transportation unit were also locked down.
The search for the suspect was called off at around 4 p.m. The suspect was never found, but authorities say there is no threat to the public.
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