Edhat Staff
False Alarm at San Marcos High School Highlights Effective Enhanced Safety Protocols
At approximately 9:50 a.m. this morning, February 5, 2019, a San Marcos High School student reported what appeared to be a man with a gun in a parking lot near the gym. The campus was immediately placed on lockdown. Sheriff’s deputies responded to the school within minutes and begin searching for the suspect who was described as a white male adult wearing a grey suit. A Santa Barbara County Sheriff/Fire Air Support helicopter responded as well as several K9 teams. Sheriff’s deputies secured a perimeter and were assisted by personnel from the UCSB Police Department, Santa Barbara Police Department and California Highway Patrol. The Sheriff’s Special Enforcement Team and Santa Barbara Police SWAT Team were also deployed.
Sheriff’s deputies worked closely with Santa Barbara Unified School District officials to ensure the students were safe. Within the hour, Sheriff’s deputies were able to contact the male subject and determine that he was not armed. The item he was seen holding was actually a radiator hose. He had innocently pulled into the parking lot when his car experienced mechanical problems. Once it was determined there was no threat, the lockdown was lifted.
The Sheriff’s Office wants to take this opportunity to praise the student who saw something suspicious and reported the incident to school officials right away. Her swift response enabled law enforcement and school administrators to immediately initiate Standard Response Protocols. We also thank the students and staff at San Marcos High School for being calm and for following instructions rehearsed during lockdown drills. This successful outcome is directly related to the practice of lockdown drills.
We are pleased this situation came to a quick and safe resolution and we thank everyone involved for their collaboration and cooperation.
Update by edhat staff
Update by edhat staff
Around 9:45 a.m., edhat’s very own Roger the Scanner Guy reported San Marcos High School in Santa Barbara was being placed on lockdown due to a report of someone seen with a gun.
Law enforcement quickly responded to the scene to search for a suspect the scanner reports described as a white male in his 30’s with light brown hair possibly wearing a grey suit and/or khaki’s, holding a pistol. The corner of Turnpike and on Hollister Ave have been shut down.
At 10:18 a.m., Santa Barbara Sheriff’s Office confirmed San Marcos High School is on lockdown and are investigating a report of a subject with a gun.
At 10:45 a.m., the Sheriff’s Office also confirmed the suspicious circumstances stating a student reported a subject with a gun in the parking lot. There are no reports of shots fired or any injuries.
Parents are asked to avoid the area since campus is on lockdown while deputies investigate.
Reported by Roger the Scanner Guy
Report of a subject with a gun in the 4700 Block of Hollister, subject possibly holding a pistol. San Marcos High School ON LOCK DOWN.
Updated information provided by Roger in the below comments:
He is just paying everyone back for his buddy getting busted for drugs…Typical.
Two different times, there was a report of gun on campus at SMHS. One today, and one 4 or 5 years ago. Both times, parents rushed to area where I live and got tangled up in the Puente maze, trying to get to Hollister. For future (hope not) emergencies, parents try parking at Page Youth Center, 4540 Hollister, and walk 1 block Hollister to Puente. You’ll be less panicked if you know where to go and not get inextricably lost in the Puente Maze. I’m so sorry you are having to deal with all this. I didn’t have to when my kids were in school many moons ago. You are brave. Your children are brave.
The comment at 12:13 was in reply to the comment made at 12:11. Out of context it looks irrational, which is hopefully why I got 6 downvotes.
Locked campus? Same arguments either for or against a border wall.
Factotum – nope. Not even close and I know you know it.
FACTOTUM so the reason some people do not want locked campuses is because it is inhumane and a waste of money? And the argument FOR having locked campuses is that it would stop illegal immigration? I’m not sure I’m following….
Locked campus will not work and is immoral. Even though Granny’s Field is not sending their best people. The extreme xenophobia demonstrated against a white male wearing a suit with car problems should give one pause.
The thing about being critical toward those who saw the Radiator hose and cell phone and thought it was a gun at least one was a student. I don’t find it funny at all that this person is cracking on a kid when it’s these kids that live with constant stress about weather or not they are going to come home from school or someone is going to flip out and shoot them. All these comments over a stupid resentment just to feel all high and mighty.
Factotum, take your axe and grind it somewhere else.
You are trolling. The kids under the desks didn’t know if it was real or not. You being dismissive of the whole thing is insulting. Be a better member of the community or you could just choose to be quiet.
why refer to him as a gunman when it’s not known?
while i applaud the response and how it was handled it certainly was a stressful 2 hours for everyone i can’t help but wonder why they could not have identified the fact that a “guy” was just working on his broken down car sooner then 2 hours? Did the guy not notice the response? did anyone not see him working on the car while they were securing campus? Something seems amiss-
I think all your comments are crappy.
I think that this incident shows us how easily cops can mistake things such as wallets, cell phones, and other items as guns. The fellow fixing his car must be scratching his head wondering why he was reported. On the other hand, the cops could have taken the report as accurate/gospel, and come out blazing. A few weeks ago we saw a body covered on the freeway near Calabasas because he did pull out a gun, and paid the ultimate price. Just think if he had been holding a radiator hose instead? Thank goodness everyone is A-OK.
Many schools have secure campuses and it helps to keep the bad guys out and makes it easier for security to monitor things. Nothing to do with a border wall.
Are they going to fire the new principal since I had to hear about this from my kids?
Ducky, there’s no way to get information out faster than someone can with a phone/social media. You’re just adding fuel to a fire.
I don’t want to say exactly where the police are but they have set a perimeter.
How creepy that kids have to worry about guns showing up at school.
Isn’t there an SB sheriff permanently assigned to San Marcos. I assume response to that report would have been almost immediate.
Attempting to make contact to a certain classroom
Hang on, swat has been spotted
“By email?” What is by email?
May all remain safe. The SBUSD’s newly hired Security Chief knows the school like the back of his hand having served as a local officer for decades and as an active, engaged parent. He’s a respected leader who I personally trust. The intent of this post is an attempt to reassure, calm via info. We all fear for the worse; hope for the best. I can only imagine parental, student, staff fears. Having a relative who commands a swat team, I know these are highly trained pros. The campus is known to the SBUSD Security Chief.
FYI- for anyone listening online: It’s hard to sort out online scanner traffic for anyone not expert like Roger, because you hear radio calls completely unrelated to this terrifying incident.
My son is posting that they got him, the gunman!
I think lockdown lift call was for a different nearby school.
According to KEYT- They don’t yet know IF There is a fire arm. They are attempting to determined; no one hurt.
No, they don’t have him. They have eyes on him walking around.
he was holding a cell phone….FFS….
a random person called this in and said he had a gun. it’s a cell phone…
ZEROHAWK how do you know?
Better safe than counting the injuries.
Do you have a source for that?
because it’s over. he had a cell phone. just a cell phone. no gun.
from a cell phone? i know…they can sometimes over heat and make your ear too warm. awful…dreadful things. 😀
Close, it was a radiator hose, not a cell phone.
Don’t need to tell anyone who might cause harm where the police are!
A locked campus sure sounds nice! Kids would feel safer, parentw would feel safer… SM is so open and easy to access the campus and there are lockdowns every time homeless have a fight in Granny Field where a knife is reported. It’s giving everyone ptsd and this situation really highlights the fear that our kids have where they don’t feel safe at school and are overreacting and calling 911 without having security investigate it first. Overblown response but better safe than sorry for sure.
A locked campus would be great! What are the arguments against a locked campus? I’m honestly just curious.
I’m not mad at the call or the response. Given the number of shootings that happen almost daily in this country, THIS IS the reality that our kids live in today. Pull your heads out of the sand. Rather than be angry at the reporting party for his/her error, you should be deeply disturbed by the society that has accepted this kind of fear of violence as the presumptive norm.
Happy news and an unfortunate commentary on society today (it’s a gun… which it very well could’ve been). I remember way back in the 90’s, my wife and I were walking, window shopping in downtown LA . Suddenly this guy walks around the corner towards us holding a video tape case. My wife bolted into a store certain he had a gun of some sort. After retrieving her (literally kneeling behind a shelf) I suggested next time she try the decaf. All is well that ends well. Thank you LEO’s for your outstanding service.
Can’t even work on my car without being mistaken for a weapon.
At least he didn’t have a crescent wrench in hand…
How about you just avoid “working on your car” in a high school parking lot while class is in session? This is no joke. Our society has changed, due to the rampant school shootings. ALWAYS better safe than sorry!
Sounds like someone is disappointed he did not have a gun?
Not a good time for joking. As far as where a car decides to quit running, and need repair, that is usually not up to the driver. And, I doubt if he/she thought it would create such a problem to fix it there.
nah, and no need to stoke a fire…
but its’ a bit over the top for a cell phone and radiator hose.
and honestly, that’s a crappy thing to say dude
Easy to say in retrospect, Zerohawk. Now you’re just trolling.
Auto Shop? They already have classes on working on computers that’s what vehicles are nowadays computers…
What is really scary is that kids nowadays are afraid of their own shadows. Is this what the future will be like? This is paranoia on steroids.
I noticed our schools have not installed any exterior security cameras – seems that this could have been figured out easily prior to causing so much fear and anxiety to so many ?
I’m torn on this issue – yes, they’re nice to have. They also come with stringent legal requirements for keeping the video data for a certain number of years, which can become VERY costly, high quality video is one the most memory intensive filetypes. Our schools are already struggling, I don’t think this would enhance the learning environment at all, even safety-wise. A posted sheriff’s deputy does much more for safety, especially immediate safety, which is much more important than solving a case quickly. A couple of hours to sort it out sounds very reasonable to me.
Nah, you got 6 downvotes because it’s strange to insist cars not break down in certain areas.
If I’m a teacher the first thing I do is walk in the classroom with my head down, silent. Wait about 10 seconds, and then say, “A radiator hose, really?” The very act of reliving stress by humor is badly needed. Take it down a notch. People respond well to deescalation and not perpetuation of unfortunate circumstances. Even good speech writers start presentations with a joke to lighten the mood. This was a mistake. It’s okay to admit it. Handle accordingly. What’s not needed is over-bearing administrators coming up with meta-counseling sessions and seventeen new strategies for dealing with this thing called life. Be a kid again. See it through their eyes. Put yourself back in high school and think of how you’d react. Do you really want more stress? Because one thing is certain: piling wood on hot fires causes raging infernos.
At 8:17 – then you read it wrong. It was in response to someone jokingly saying they can’t “work on my car without being mistaken for a weapon.” Context people, context. But it’s not all your fault – it’s near impossible to properly “reply” to comments here.
good points – not sure if you have kids at the school? But the 2 hours felt like eternity- 1,000’s of people stopped their day – i cried i was calm i thought it was a mistake i assumed it would be okay – my work stopped my schedule stopped- kids were in closets and under desks – i kept reading my daughters text ” we are in lock down there is a gunman”. Last year SMHS sent out a notice that someone threatened to shoot up the school (on my daughters birthday) – one can never be too careful, i get it – but cameras are essential aspect of security and determining who and what is around, I’m so tired of hearing about the schools money issues- the public school system has more money then you think -clearly nobody was around to physically see some dude just trying to fix his car- ?
Why are our schools “struggling”. They get plenty of money. Perhaps the issue is how their bargaining groups choose to allocate that money. Campus security or infrastructure is not high on their list. But it is myth to say they are “struggling”.
Please keep that child in school, I do not want them out in public as they are a danger to them self. Also, bring autoshop back to public schools as a mandatory class… is this really our future?
What was the cost for a full police response? 4.2 million is not a lot of money- honestly the district would probably spend double that with the way they handle their budget-lol
Automatic weapon in the photo here of the deputy at the ready. Shouldn’t his head have protection if there would have been active shooters?
@ FEB 06, 2019 09:43 AM – What child? The one who called this in? Why would they be a danger to themselves?
I’m wondering what part of my comment someone would vote down? The part where i cried? Kids where in closets and under desks ? or the part where there was a threat on my kids birthday? interesting community we have eeeehhhhh? weird-
oh man this is funny – please Mr. or Mrs. Down vote enlighten me ? Why ? So sorry to offend i was trying to “express myself “- geeesh.
Don’t take it personally. There are only one or two serial down-voters with multiple accounts and too few meaningful hobbies. Their sole purpose is to try to get under your skin. It’s sad, really.
No, it’s not, and your use of the term “nowadays” means that you are woefully out of touch. There were 24 school shooting just last year that resulted in injury or death. This is not your “good old days,” Grandpa. Those are long, long gone.
RJN – his comment got deleted.