Pursuit causes school lockdown
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ST. IGNATIUS — St. Ignatius School District students were a bit alarmed, but overall safe and sound after a police pursuit resulted in the school going into lockdown mode for 14 minutes on Feb. 10.
St. Ignatius Superintendent Bob Lewandowski said the school district’s clerk noticed that a man had run to the school and was banging on the locked doors, trying to get in.
The ordeal began after a St. Ignatius resident called 911 to report that James Joseph Sorrell, 25, had kicked in the door at a residence. The officers attempted to locate the suspect and found that he had three warrants for his arrest, according Lake County Sheriff Don Bell.
The officers found Sorrell in a nearby residence, but Sorrell fled via the back door and ran to the school campus. School officials were alerted to the pursuit by one of the officers, and sent the school into lockdown at 11:41 a.m. Officers continued to pursue Sorrell and apprehended him off-campus. He was charged with criminal mischief and assault on a peace officer.
Lewandowski said the incident proved the school’s security system is effective. It only lets people through the front doors of the office where personnel have to check visitors in. The system has been in place for four years.
“It lasted a short amount of time, but the security system we have in place kept the perpetrator, the suspect, from entering the building,” Lewandowski said.
