Sheriff’s deputies scoured Hewes Middle School in Tustin on Tuesday, Dec. 18, after someone reported there was an armed suspect on campus – but authorities found no one.
The school, along with nearby Foothill High School, was temporarily placed on lockdown as deputies checked the grounds for any suspects, said Carrie Braun, an Orange County Sheriff’s Department spokeswoman.
Just before 8 a.m. sheriff’s deputies received a call of a person with a weapon on campus.
Five students reported seeing a man in some sort of work truck who appeared to have a weapon, Braun said. They reported the man coming toward campus.
Deputies responded en masse and searched the school, which came up clear. They continued to scour the campus and surrounding area when they located a man off-campus who appeared to fit the given description. He was questioned by deputies, Braun said, but it did not appear he was the subject of the initial report. She added that the man was cooperative with deputies and no weapon was found.
At 10 a.m., deputies had deemed the campuses safe and the lockdowns were lifted. The Sheriff’s Department worked with Tustin Unified School District officials to contact parents about school operations for the rest of the day, which included more law enforcement in the area.
Braun said investigators are going to look at surveillance footage from the area to try to corroborate the reports.
“(Investigators) are still trying to find a suspect or … if it could have been a situation where they think they saw something that wasn’t the case,” she said.
