Report of possible gun-toting man puts Alameda High on lockdown

Police keep watch outside Alameda High after a student reported seeing armed man.

LAKEWOOD – A search for a possible gunman forced the lockdown of Alameda High School Tuesday morning and students later were evacuated, but police search teams had not located a gunman or a gun by late afternoon.

“So far, we’re coming up with nothing,” Steve Davis, Lakewood Police Department spokesman said about 3 p.m.

Police moved onto the school campus in numbers earlier in the day after a student told the AHS school resourceofficer he had seen a man with a what the student thought was a handgun. School officials put the campus on lockdown and police began searching the school for a suspect, but no suspect or weapon was found after hours of searching.

“We had one student contact the school resource officer about 9:15 this morning; told him that he thought he saw a person – he didn’t even say a student – there somewhere that had a gun,” Davis said. “No one else saw that, no one heard anything. We can’t confirm it with anyone else or corroborate his story.”

About 1 p.m., school officials ordered the campus evacuated and the students were taken, one classroom at a time, to the nearby Lakewood Link recreation center where most remained until their parents arrived to pick them up.

Students were allowed to retrieve their vehicles form the school parking lot, but were told to leave backpacks and other gear behind, Davis said.

“Parents were told they could hook up with them over there,” said Davis, who went to the Link for a view of the scene. “Oh man, that’s an undertaking to get all those parents in there and hook them up with their kids.

Meanwhile, police continued searching the school throughout the afternoon.

“Our people are still going through the school, every nook and cranny; also backpacks. They will see if they come up with anything but, so far, nothing,” Davis said.

Even though nothing had been found, Davis said he supports the student who reported what he thought was a dangerous intruder at the school.

“I’m not faulting the kid,” Davis said. “He saw what he thinks was a handgun.”

As many as 20 Lakewood Police personnel were dispatched to the scene to set up a perimeter and search the school buildings.

“That’s a lot of manpower and a lot of time, but we all have to react. Around here, and I can understand why, if you say the words school and gun in one sentence, this is the kind of reaction that you get. We all have to react, Davis said in a reference to the aftermath of the Columbine High School and Bailey High Schools shootings.

The lockdown marks the second time in two days that the Alameda campus has been secured, Davis said.

On Monday, a resident living a couple of blocks south the school reported what were believed to be shots fired in the area, but officers later determined that the suspected “shots” were firecrackers and the campus reopened without incident a short time later.