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Chaos briefly unfolded on the west side of Atlanta as two schools were placed under lockdown during a police search for a suspect. Benjamin E. Mays High School and Jean Childs Young Middle School found their routines abruptly disrupted for approximately thirty minutes yesterday, a situation stemming from a law enforcement pursuit in the vicinity.
A stolen vehicle incident triggered the response when Georgia State Patrol troopers located an abandoned Chevrolet Malibu along Fairburn Road near Benjamin E. Mays Drive, as reported by FOX 5 Atlanta. The man believed to have stolen the vehicle was sighted nearby but chose to run when confronted by the authorities, leading troopers to chase him towards the school's ball fields before he vanished into a wooded area.
The pursuit escalated with the inclusion of a K-9 unit and the Atlanta Police Department Aviation Unit joining in the effort to locate the suspect. This multitiered manhunt led the administrations of the two schools to institute a lockdown, ensuring the safety of students and staff during the operation. Details on the suspect remain scant. Although he evaded capture, his identity and description were not released, confirmed by FOX 5 Atlanta.
The lockdown, effective for nearly half an hour, was eventually lifted, marking the end of the immediate threat posed by the incident. An Atlanta Public Schools spokesperson confirmed the end of the lockdown around 3:40 p.m. according to Atlanta News First. The schools resumed normal operations soon afterwards, as the search for the suspect continues to loom large over the community.
