Screenshot from live feed on NBC.com
UPDATED 3:15PM | Bancroft’s Counselor Mike Temple spoke to parents waiting outside the school and said that the lockdown began when a Bancroft student reported that he was approached on campus by someone he believed by his older appearance to be a high school student who, after offering the Bancroft student some marijuana, lifted up his shirt and exposed “what the student said looked like a gun.”
The Bancroft student reported the unauthorized person to Temple prompting the immediate lockdown of the school’s 700 building. “Police were on site within three minutes to lock down the rest of the school.” Temple also responded to parents’ questions, saying that there were no suspects of a robbery on campus.
We are still awaiting for official police response on today’s incident.
On-scene reporting conducted by Long Beach Post contributor Sareena Barron.
UPDATED 2:40PM | Parents are being let into Bancroft 10 at a time to retreive students. All students are being sent home with the following letter explaining the purpose and result of the lockdown:
Photo by Long Beach Post contributor Sareena Barron.
UPDATED 1:50PM | The lockdown at Bancroft has been lifted and parents are now gathering outside to pick up their children. No suspects were located on the campus.
ORIGINAL 1:15PM | Bancroft Middle School was on lockdown Monday afternoon in what school officials say is a precautionary measure after a report of a possible unauthorized person on campus. Long Beach Unified School Safety officers with the help of the L.A. County Sheriff’s and Long Beach Police Department are conducting a thorough search of the campus, but have not found any such person.
The lockdown started at 11:30AM and was still underway as of 1:20PM. Bancroft Middle School posted the following notice on its website at 12:40PM:
As a precaution today, the Bancroft campus was locked down at about 11:30 a.m. after a report of a possible unauthorized person on campus. We followed our safety procedures, and with the help of police and School Safety we conducted a thorough search of the campus but have found no such unauthorized person on campus. Bancroft remains on lockdown as a precaution as police search the neighborhood, but students remain safely in class.
A dozen police cruisers as well as a canine unit and a Sheriff’s helicopter were all on scene. A previous search may have also been centered around neighboring Pan American Park.
Refresh this page for updates as this story progresses.
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