Brentwood: False Alarm Leads to School Lockdowns

Two Brentwood schools were placed on lockdown Wednesday afternoon after a parent thought they saw a registered sex offender on school campus.

According to Brentwood Police Chief Mark Evenson, it was a false alarm. Here is a message he sent the Brentwood City Council regarding the incident:

Good afternoon Council:

Within the past hour, a citizen was picking up her child at Adams Middle School and thought she saw her neighbor, who is a registered sex offender, on the school campus. She reported this to school officials who then contacted the PD. Both Adams and Heritage immediately locked down their campuses.

Our School Resource Officer for Heritage was already in the area and immediately located the subject.

The person who was identified as the possible sex offender turned out to be the offender’s brother who is an IT tech for the County doing work at Adams Middle School. The school officials were notified and the campuses were immediately re-opened.

The lock down lasted less than 15 minutes. There was never any threat to the students or staff. Please let me know if you have any questions.

Thanks. Mark.

Here is a message from Heritage Principal Larry Oshodi

Dear Heritage Parents/Guardians:

I wish to inform you about the incident at school today. A few minutes before the final bell, we received information that an alleged sex offender was seen entering our campus. We immediately notified our school resource officer and the Brentwood Police department and initiated a search. We also asked teachers to keep students in class as a precautionary measure while the search was being conducted. A few minutes later, Brentwood Police department informed us that an individual fitting the description was apprehended away from our school. The individual was never on our campus. Students were then released to go home.

In this day and age we understand that parents need information about what may be happening in school and we are committed to getting information out as quickly as possible in these situations, but our first priority will always be to keep our students safe and to secure the campus with all our resources and staff, working in concert with the police department and other agencies.

We truly appreciate the cooperation of our students and staff as well as the patience of parents waiting to pick up their students after school today.

Sincerely,
Larry Oshodi
Principal