Authorities on Thursday afternoon determined that a witnesses description of a possible man pointing a firearm toward Aromas School was unfounded.
The San Benito County Sheriff’s Office joined the Monterey County Sheriff’s Office in responding to the school in the early afternoon Thursday. The school sits at the intersection of San Benito, Monterey and Santa Cruz counties, but is technically part of Monterey County.
San Benito County Sheriff’s Capt. Eric Taylor noted how the local agency responded quickly with three deputies to the scene.
“The basic thing is, a guy called in and believed he saw a guy come out of the river area, that would’ve been near the bridge by Quarry Road, and thought he may have had something that resembled a gun,” Taylor said. “and then thought maybe the guy pointed that object toward the school from over by the river, and then turned and ran back into the river.”
Taylor figured Monterey County deputies put the school on lockdown out of precaution, as that school is in Monterey County jurisdiction. While the school sits in Monterey, the area where the man supposedly ran toward was in San Benito County, Taylor said.
Deputies searched the river area but did not locate anyone.
“We had no signs that anybody was around,” Taylor said.
Regardless, Taylor said the two sheriff’s offices responded “very quickly.”
“We treated it was if it as an active incident,” he said.
