Police: Report of Gun Triggered School Lockdowns

Editor's note: This article was updated at 11:45 p.m. with additional information.

Both Palos Verdes High School and Palos Verdes Intermediate School were put on lockdown for more than an hour Tuesday afternoon after police received a report of a man with a handgun driving nearby, according to police.

In an email released to local media, Capt. Tony Best of the Palos Verdes Estates Police Department said the report was made by a PVHS staff member at about 2:30 p.m.

The staff member said that two students reported seeing a man in a dark gray four-door Toyota Tacoma pickup following them on Paseo Del Mar and onto Cloyden Road. When the pulled into the school parking lot, the man continued driving on Cloyden Road.

The student who was driving looked in the rearview mirror and saw the man holding up a silver handgun as he drove by the school, heading toward Palos Verdes Drive West, Best said. 

The incident happened at about 2:10 p.m.

"As a precautionary measure, PVHS and PVIS were placed on lockdown," Best said, adding later that officers were also sent to nearby Lunada Bay Elementary School. "Officers responded to the area and conducted a sweep of (the schools) and surrounding areas for the vehicle/suspect, with negative results."

Because of the time of the incident, students at the schools were unable to leave campus at the usual time.

"Once the campuses and surrounding areas were checked, (students) were allowed to leave," Best said. "Officers remained in the area to provide extra patrol and a police presence until students were out of the area."

The lockdown was lifted before 4 p.m.

Police described the driver of the pickup as a 20-year-old white man with a thin build and a beard. He was wearing a white shirt and a gray or black baseball cap.

Police do not believe the students were targeted.