Palm Crest Elementary placed on brief lockdown

Palm Crest Elementary went on lockdown for a few minutes Wednesday as a Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department helicopter searched for a man who reportedly told his girlfriend that he was going to commit suicide.

No students attending classes at the Palm Drive campus, as it was a teacher collaboration day. However, a number of children at the school as part of a daycare program. 

The man, a resident of Castle Road, called his girlfriend in Illinois. She alerted her local police department, which in turn contacted the Crescenta Valley Sheriff’s Station, said Lt. Marjory Jacobs.

A helicopter was dispatched to search the area after deputies failed to find the man, who deputies did not identify, at home. 

“It’s a little sketchy when you get out-of-state police departments calling you, trying to coordinate, it becomes third-hand information,” Jacobs said.

After spotting the helicopter and receiving a call from a neighbor regarding the search, the campus briefly went into lockdown, said school secretary Kerry Russell. 

“It was really a false alarm, it was maybe for five minutes,” Russell said. “We just went on lockdown as precautionary measure.”

-- Daniel Siegal, Times Community News

Twitter: @ValleySunDan