|
Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...
|
Phillips Brooks Elementary School and La Entrada Middle School were placed on lockdown and residents were asked to shelter-in-place earlier today after two callers reported to the Menlo Park Police Department that they had seen a man with a firearm.
The suspect died at the scene from a self-inflicted gunshot wound, the department told this news organization, and police lifted the shelter-in-place order at 2:15 p.m.
Police received the first call around 12:27 p.m., with one caller reporting a man in a field near St. Denis Church and another reporting a man inside a vehicle. Officers later located a man matching the description of a missing and suicidal person — 22-year-old Alexis Valverde Ruiz from Riverbank, a city near Modesto — in a vehicle on the 2200 block of Avy Avenue.
Crisis negotiators attempted to make contact but the suspect did not respond and was seen with a handgun on his chest, the department said in a press release.
Police eventually approached the man using drones from nearby agencies, an armored vehicle and a ballistic shield. Officers confirmed Ruiz had a gunshot wound and was deceased, the department said.
The San Mateo County Coroner’s Office released Ruiz identity on Wednesday.
As the incident was unfolding, police asked a church and two schools to lockdown in addition to nearby businesses and residences. The Las Lomitas Elementary School District office was also on lockdown, Superintendent Erik Burmeister told this news organization.
Since the lockdown disrupted lunch, La Entrada students were released to homeroom to eat. Following the lockdown, many parents picked up their kids early from school and kids who did not leave early were released at the end of the day as normal, Burmeister said.
Las Lomitas principal Alain Camou told parents that a bus for kindergartners and pre-K students was canceled. Camou said all students were safe and supervised by school staff. Las Lomitas was in a secure campus protocol, which means instruction continued but students stayed in their classrooms.
As part of San Mateo County’s “The Big Five” protocol, a “lockdown/barricade” occurs when there is an immediate threat of violence or gunfire on campus, or a school is directed to do so by law enforcement.
Help is available:
If you or someone you know is experiencing emotional distress or thoughts of suicide, help is available 24/7. You can also call or text 988, the Suicide & Crisis Lifeline, to connect with trained counselors nationwide or https://www.smchealth.org/suicide-prevention to access local suicide prevention resources in San Mateo County.
Almanac Staff Writer Jennifer Yoshikoshi contributed to this report.
This story was updated with information from the Menlo Park Police Department, Las Lomitas Elementary School District and with the identity of the victim.
As one of the kids in La entrada at this moment, it’s nice to hear that there is no immediate threat.
I was one of the middle schoolers at La Entrada, I heard the intercom go off but didn’t really hear much but I heard “Lockdown drill” so I ran to the Big gym because the entrance was too exposed. The best bets to survive were in the equipment storage room, or under the bleachers. Hours went by then the Middle schoolers went to homeroom for the rest of the time.