Edhat Staff
Update by the Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Office
Sheriff’s deputies have determined that a report of a subject with a gun at St. Joseph’s High School was unfounded. At approximately 9:53 a.m. on Tuesday, May 31, 2022, Sheriff’s deputies were dispatched to St. Joseph’s High School to investigate a relayed report of a subject with a weapon on campus. When deputies arrived, the campus had already been placed on lockdown. Deputies requested that Righetti High School also be placed on lockdown while they investigated the report.
School administrators contacted a student who was the original witness and relayed information to deputies. Additional units responded including a Sheriff’s K9 unit, Lompoc Police K9 unit, CHP, and County Air Support. Deputies escorted students out of their classrooms and conducted a thorough search of the school for weapons using K9 units who are trained in explosive and firearm detection.
While deputies conducted their search, the Sheriff’s Office provided updates to a gathering of concerned parents in the parking lot as well as media outlets that responded to report on the incident. The lockdown at Righetti High School was released as soon as it became apparent that this incident was isolated to the St. Joseph’s campus.
The search of the St. Joseph’s campus did not yield any weapons and deputies believe the original report to be unfounded. There were no arrests made for this incident. Students returned to their classrooms where classes resumed shortly after 1:00 p.m.
Report of Suspicious Subject Locks Down Orcutt High School
By edhat staff
An Orcutt high school was locked down Tuesday morning as law enforcement investigated reports of a suspicious subject near campus.
After 10:00 a.m., Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Deputies responded to St. Joseph High School. St. Joseph was locked down and the nearby Righetti High School was also locked down as a precautionary measure.
Around 11:15 a.m., the lockdown at Righetti High School was lifted as Deputies continued to investigate St. Joseph High School.
“Search of St. Joseph’s campus is complete. No weapon was found. Classrooms will be repopulate [sic] and school day will continue,” reported Sheriff Public Information Officer Raquel Zick at 1:00 p.m.
This is a developing story.
Better safe than sorry! Be a shame though if kids are missing out on lessons each time there’s a lockdown for an extended time. Then again, some rights are more important to some of us than the right to an education and the right to life and liberty are to all children in our country.