A tense situation unfolded at Hillsdale Middle School in Unincorporated El Cajon yesterday when a man suspected to be armed with a gun led to a temporary school lockdown. The Rancho San Diego Sheriff's Station received a distressing call shortly before 3:30 p.m. about a man carrying what seemed to be a gun in front of the school grounds, located within the 1300 block of Brabham Street, according to the San Diego County Sheriff's Office.
Deputies were dispatched immediately and given a detailed description to hastily search for the individual as they made their way to the school. School administrators were instructed to lock down the school as a precaution. Upon arrival, officers spotted and detained a man who matched the given description outside the campus area for further questioning.
It turned out that the 46-year-old man from La Mesa had a CO2-powered, non-lethal handgun. After investigators looked into the matter, they found he hadn't actually committed a crime and was subsequently released. The unsettling incident had the school on lockdown for about 15 minutes, but thankfully, no students or staff were harmed during the event.
The situation, however, was not entirely without precedent. The man had reportedly been involved in past negative interactions with the school staff and Campus Safety Officers from the Cajon Valley Union School District. On the heels of these incidents, deputies secured an emergency temporary protective order against the man, barring him from approaching the school in the future closely.
