Suspicious-looking man prompts lockdown at Forest Lake schools

Star Tribune

Last update: November 6, 2009 - 7:33 PM

A security lockdown was declared briefly Friday morning for Forest Lake High School and nearby Century Junior High School, the Central Learning Center and School District offices on a report of a suspicious-looking man inside the junior high, a district official said.

The lockdown lasted for about 45 minutes to an hour and ended around 8:20 a.m. after police called to the buildings gave the all-clear, said district spokesman Ross Bennett.

Forest Lake police Sgt. Greg Weiss said Friday afternoon that authorities "have no ID on who [the man] is" nor has he been located. However, Weiss added, he is "not nervous about school on Monday morning."

A "person considered suspicious, a possible intruder" entered the junior high about 6:40 a.m. and then "appeared to be headed toward one of the doors of the senior high school," Bennett said, explaining what prompted the security response.

He said the person apparently was a man. Two or three junior high staff members followed him as he approached a door of the high school. The staffers lost track of him at that point, and authorities were notified, Bennett said.

During the lockdown, the outside doors were locked, and people were "kept in whatever rooms" they were in at the time, Bennett said.

Also, students were kept on the buses that arrived during the lockdown, and students arriving by car were kept in their vehicles, he said.

PAUL WALSH

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