Lynnwood grade school locked down briefly
Published 11:46 am Thursday, September 24, 2009
LYNNWOOD —- Law enforcement officials ordered Hilltop Elementary School locked down for more than an hour this morning as a precaution while police searched for a man who eluded them after crashing a stolen SUV in the southbound lanes of I-405.
The lockdown began shortly after classes started at 8:40 a.m. and ended just after 10 a.m., said Edmonds School District spokeswoman D.J. Jakala.
The district notified parents of the lockdown, Jakala said.
Washington State Patrol trooper Keith Leary said police ordered the lockdown as a precaution after a man crashed a green 1993 Ford Explorer he’d been driving southbound along I-405 into a Washington Department of Transportation maintenance truck. Troopers later determined the SUV had been stolen in the Snohomish area, Leary said.
The suspect left the SUV, ran over a fence and into a wooded residential area near Damson Road, Leary said.
No injuries were reported, Leary said.
Snohomish County sheriff’s deputies helped in the search and a Lynnwood Police Department police dog was unable to pick up a trace of the suspect, whom Leary described as a white man in his 40s with facial hair, wearing a salmon-colored shirt and jean shorts.
