Report of suspicious person prompts lockdown at Piner High School

Piner High School was placed on a brief lockdown Thursday morning while police officers investigated a report of a suspicion person near the school.

Just after 8 a.m., a call came in reporting a person with black hair, a gas mask, a black trench coat and rifle was walking on Fulton Road near Piner High School, according to scanner traffic. Later, scanner traffic reported the person was not carrying a rifle, but rather a large umbrella. With the school on lockdown, police were seen outside questioning a man in a trench coat, wearing large can headphones and carrying an umbrella.

“We were never under any danger, and as a precaution we did lock the school down, and we’ll always do that to keep our students safe,” said Piner High School Vice Principal Andrea Correia. “I think, generally, people in our community are aware of everything that’s happening, and due to that they don’t want to overlook anything. They’re very vigilant, which is a good thing. It’s better to be safe than sorry.”

Piner is the third Sonoma County school this week to have a suspicious incident investigated by police officers. On Wednesday, a note indicating that Santa Rosa High School was “gonna be shot up” was found scrawled on a bathroom wall, a threat police found to be unsubstantiated. That same day, a 16-year-old Analy High School student was arrested on suspicion of writing a threat of violence on one of the school’s bathroom walls a day earlier.

“I think that people are on edge,” Correia said.

Piner High School was locked down for 30 minutes.

In a news release about the Piner lockdown, the Santa Rosa Police Department said that the department gets “calls like this every day.”

“With what has happened at schools, we are all probably a little more on edge,” the release said. “That’s OK - we want you to call when you see something suspicious. If you see something, say something. We are here for you.”

You can reach Staff Writer Christi Warren at 707-521-5205 or christi.warren@pressdemocrat.com. On Twitter @SeaWarren.