West Hollywood school placed on lockdown; video appears to show man in parking lot pointing rifle
WEST HOLLYWOOD, Calif. (KABC) -- A suspect was taken into custody Thursday morning after reports of a man who allegedly pointed a rifle at a school employee in West Hollywood, authorities said.
The Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department says it received a call about a man pointing a rifle at the Larchmont Charter School campus on Fairfax Avenue, prompting them to place the school on lockdown.
A suspect was eventually detained by deputies in the Hollywood area, according to the L.A. Police Department, which was monitoring the situation.
According to an email from the charter school to parents and families, security cameras captured footage that led authorities to find the suspect, who was taken into custody. He was not immediately identified.
Surveillance video that is part of the investigation, and was shared by parents, appears to show a man walking among several cars with a rifle in his hands. He is seen stopping and raising the rifle, but it is not clear from the video exactly what or who his pointing the rifle at.
AIR7 HD was over the scene where children were being released to parents. The school was placed on lockdown.
"It was obviously incredibly scar for everyone involved," the school said in a statement. "We are so thankful to our staff for calmly continuing to lead our students and for activating and following all of the emergency procedures for lockdowns that we regularly train on and practice."
There were no reported injuries. Authorities added there was no active threat to the public.
After picking up his son from the school, Gregory Poux described the situation as "stressful to say the least."
"I'm glad he's safe and I'm glad we got him early," Poux said of his son. "They did a great job of locking down the school, I think," he said, adding that parents "were made aware very fast," including via text message.
