Oakland School Cleared After Report Of Gunman
OAKLAND (CBS 5 / BCN) - A report of a man with a gun on campus prompted the evacuation of La Escuelita Elementary School in Oakland Monday afternoon.
Officers responded to the school, located at 1100 Third Ave., after receiving the anonymous tip at 12:45 p.m., a school district spokesman said.
"A man said he witnessed another man enter campus with a rifle and go into one of the buildings," Oakland Unified School District spokesman Troy Flint said.
However, officers searched the school for several hours Monday afternoon and turned up no evidence that there had been an armed man on campus, police spokeswoman Holly Joshi said. It's unclear who made the report, but Joshi said the call appears to have been false.
The school was initially put in lockdown, Flint said.
"Teachers were saying we needed to duck our heads because they might shoot through the window," fourth grader Amina Vaden said after being reunited with her family Monday afternoon.
"I was kinda nervous because the cop came in with a big gun," Amina said.
After the initial lockdown, the school was evacuated. Students were taken to a safe area and were held there until they could be collected by their parents once everyone was accounted for, Joshi said.
Parents were asked to pick up their children at the Peralta Community College District at 333 E. Eighth St.
There were no reports of injuries.
Dozens of parents had gathered at the pickup location around 3 p.m., anxiously waiting for their children as news helicopters hovered overhead. Some were crying, even as police reassured them that their kids were safe.
"I heard the police say it's OK but I saw the helicopters - I didn't know what happened," said Kathy, the mother of a fourth-grader who declined to give her last name.
Susanna Huerta, whose 7-year-old son Brian is in the second grade at La Escuelita, said she had gotten a phone call from the school.
"The school forwarded a voice mail to inform me they were safe but I'm a little nervous until I see him," she said.
It took several hours for all of the kids to be brought to the pickup spot. One parent, Jabari Shaw, was particularly antsy.
"Give me a vest and I'll go in there and get them myself," he said.
Shaw's nephew and 3-year-old son attend the nearby Laney College Child Care Center, which he said was also evacuated.
Venissa Barrun, the mother of a third-grader and a fourth-grader at La Escuelita, said she is raising her kids on her own because her boyfriend is in Iraq.
"I don't know what's worse, them being here or my boyfriend being in Iraq," she said. "I don't expect this to happen at home."
The school district will have counselors on site Tuesday to meet with the students, Joshi said.
(© 2011 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. Bay City News contributed to this report.)
