Three Wallingford-Swarthmore schools locked down Monday during a police search outside
Strath Haven High School and Middle School and Wallingford Elementary School students sheltered in place Monday, as police searched the area for a suspect who abandoned a car and fled.
Students at Strath Haven High School and Middle School and Wallingford Elementary School sheltered in place Monday morning as police searched the area for a suspect who had fled during a traffic stop.
The incident began when a Nether Providence Township police officer stopped an Acura at 9:07 a.m. Monday on South Providence Road, police said in a statement. The driver fled in the car, which police determined was stolen, and the officer lost sight of it.
Then at 9:41 a.m., a resident contacted the police to report a car abandoned in a backyard on Hickory Lane, near the high school, police said. Officers determined the car was the same one that had been driven by the suspect, and police began searching the area.
Police said they worked with school officials to place the three Wallingford-Swarthmore schools, which enroll about 2,600 students, “in a ‘Teach in Place’ status while officers searched the surrounding area.”
Wallingford-Swarthmore Superintendent Russell Johnston said the lockdown “kept the kids safe inside the buildings” during the police search. Classes continued during that time, he said.
“What we did was out of an abundance of caution,” Johnston said. He said school officials believed police had guns drawn during the search.
Police reviewed video surveillance that showed the suspect “fleeing toward the rear of Strath Haven High School” before being picked up by another car. The schools returned to their normal status after it was clear the suspect had left the area, police said.
Nether Providence Township police are still investigating the incident, and are asking anyone with information to call the department’s detective division at 610-892-2875.
