Horace Mann Elementary on Lockdown

Students at an Oakland elementary school that has been on lockdown  for several hours because of a nearby police standoff are being allowed to go  home.
    Horace Mann Elementary School at 5222 Ygnacio Ave. has been on  lockdown since about 10:15 a.m., Oakland Unified School District spokesman  Troy Flint said. Shortly before 2 p.m., the school began allowing parents to  pick up their children one by one, he said.
    The lockdown was prompted by a search for suspects in a series of  robberies that occurred this morning, police said.
    Police learned around 7 a.m. that there had been a number of armed  home invasion and other robberies in East Oakland, police spokesman Officer  Cynthia Perkins said.
    As officers were investigating the crimes, they spotted a car that  had been used in one of the incidents and traced it to a home in the 5000  block of Melrose Avenue, near 49th Avenue.
    They saw one suspect exiting the home and arrested him, then  determined there were other suspects inside, police said.
    Three other suspects were then arrested without incident, but  police said there is one suspect still inside the home.
    Officers have surrounded the home and the remaining suspect was  still refusing to come out early this afternoon.
    Flint said parents of students at Horace Mann were notified of the  exit plan this afternoon. Some had already arrived at the school.
    "Many parents live in the neighborhood and just showed up because  there is a tremendous amount of police activity," Flint said.
    School was scheduled to let out at 2:45 p.m. today, he said.