Two people were detained in connection with an hourslong lockdown at West Valley College in Saratoga on Monday, the school said.
The community college was placed on lockdown at about 11 a.m. due to an "armed intruder on campus," the school said. The lockdown was lifted shortly after 1:30 p.m. after authorities determined that the campus was safe.
It all began when an employee reported seeing someone with a rifle, apparently near a parked red Cadillac.
“We immediately turned off the lights, and all got up against the teacher’s desk and we were all immediately silent,” said student Katherine Pears. “And people were scared, people were crying, I was crying. I thought we were gonna be one of those schools that has a shooting.”
Get a weekly recap of the latest San Francisco Bay Area housing news. Sign up for NBC Bay Area’s Housing Deconstructed newsletter.
Parents immediately began arriving, ending up near where officers were isolating the red Cadillac.
“It was frightening, just very frightening. Just not knowing what’s going on. Where is this person? What are the police doing?” said parent Lee Ann Meyers.
Her son Lee was on lockdown with other students.
“Well they seem fine. I mean, there’s definitely a lot of people that are obviously very nervous, very scared, but other than that it seems people are relatively comfortable. It seems like they feel safe,” he said.
After several hours, word spread that the persons connected with the so-called weapon have been found and the school announced the lockdown was lifted.
“An announcement came over the PA system when they cleared it and they said it was a replica rifle, that it wasn’t an active weapon,” said student Cici Carey.
Soon, the district chancellor confirmed there was no danger.
“We determined there were two individuals involved who had a replica airsoft rifle that looked very much like a real gun,” said Bradley Davis.
Many students praised the school and law enforcement for its quick response.
The chancellor says they’re still investigating why the replica was brought on campus and said he hopes this reminds everyone to try to use good judgement in bringing anything that is or resembles a weapon to a school.
All classes for the remainder of the day were canceled.
