PORT ANGELES — Two schools were put into lockdown Wednesday afternoon as police pursued a man who brandished a weapon near Queen of Angels School.
What they found was a clear, plastic toy.
The Airsoft toy pistol is a gun shaped exactly like the pistols police officers carry. It was similar enough that someone taking a quick look might not be able to tell the difference.
“The possibility of someone getting harmed when exhibiting one of these is very real,” said Port Angeles Police Sgt. Glen Roggenbuck, holding the toy gun after police arrested its owner on an unrelated warrant.
No one was injured in the incident.
Queen of Angels School and Jefferson Elementary School went into lockdown at about 1:15 p.m. Wednesday after a passer-by spotted a man briefly pull the gun from his backpack as he walked past Queen of Angels, 1007 S. Oak St.
The passer-by called 9-1-1, saying one of two men who were walking near the school brandished a handgun.
Police told both Queen of Angels and Jefferson, about four blocks away, to lock their doors as a precaution, Roggenbuck said.
School searched
Officers searched inside Queen of Angels, a Catholic elementary school, before fanning out into the neighborhood.
Using patrol cars, they blocked off streets around the school.
Inside, Queen of Angels secretary Sheri Bedford said the approximately 100 students in grades kindergarten through six and their teachers remained calm and quiet.
The school principal was on a field trip with the seventh and eighth grades.
“None of them were worried or nervous,” Bedford said of the students inside the building. “They were just good.
“I haven’t seen a tear yet.”
