School kids locked up School kids locked up (May 28, 2004)

Students held after threat from caller

By Julie O'Shea

Students and teachers at Theuerkauf Elementary School were locked inside their classrooms for two hours Monday, after an anonymous caller said there would be a shooting at the San Luis Avenue campus.

The school received the call about 2:30 p.m. and alerted police, who searched the campus and the surrounding area but found no suspects. No one was injured during the lockdown, and no shooting occurred.

While the case remains an open investigation, police and Mountain View-Whisman officials are assuring parents the campus is safe.

"We really don't know if this was a prank or something that was foiled," police spokesperson Jim Bennett said, adding that his department has very few leads to go on right now.

Bennett said the caller was male and indicated that the shooting would take place on campus at a particular time. He said the caller did not target a particular student nor location on campus. Bennett didn't provide any more details

"The students were extremely well-behaved," Superintendent Jim Negri said.

The incident occurred around dismissal time, and the streets around Theuerkauf were beginning to fill with parents coming to pick up their children.

Negri said no parent got overly anxious about the situation, and school administrators led the majority of them into the campus library, while a handful of other parents were asked to wait a few streets away.

Negri said students were eventually led into the multipurpose room and were released around 4:30 p.m. in groups of five or six to their parents and legal guardians. The last batch of students was sent home around 6 p.m., said Negri, who has participated in 25 school evacuations during his career.

Bennett said Monday's phone call was a first for Mountain View.

"We are working with the police," Negri said. "We continue to keep our eyes and ears open on this."

There was an increased police presence at the campus Tuesday. Extra counselors from the Community Health Awareness Council were also on hand to talk with students if necessary. Principal Connie Sawdey discussed the incident with students during a school-wide assembly the next morning. She later met with parents in the school library to answer questions.

E-mail Julie O'Shea at joshea@mv-voice.com

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