Walnut Creek PD: Wednesday's School Lockdown, Pursuit Based On Faulty Info

A police pursuit of a suspect in Walnut Creek that had two schools on lockdown Wednesday was based off of faulty information, police said today.

“The whole thing is kind of convoluted,” Walnut Creek police Lt. Steve Gorski said.

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Gorski said that shortly after 11 a.m. Wednesday, police received a call from an employee at a rental car company who said there were two men in the office that the person believed were wanted for a crime in San Francisco, possibly a homicide.

Using that information, Gorski said officers responded to the car company to detain the men while dispatchers worked to verify the information. Police detained one of the two men, but Gorski said the second man had already left the scene.

When police caught up with the second man, he ran, Gorski said.

The man ran in the direction of Buena Vista Elementary School, located at 2355 San Juan Ave., and actually was on campus for a few minutes.

[Previous: UPDATE: Homicide Suspect Caught; Walnut Creek School Lockdowns Lifted.]

Gorski said both Buena Vista Elementary and Contra Costa Christian School, located roughly a mile away at 2721 Larkey Lane, were locked down while officers deployed a K-9 team and searched the area.

Police eventually caught up with the suspect, but San Francisco police said neither he nor the man was wanted for any crime.

The two men were released within a half hour, Gorski said.

As for why the man ran from police, Gorski said he had a restraining order against him and thought maybe he had violated it by accident.

“He was running from something. There’s no doubt about that,” he said.

--Bay City News

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