EAST HEMET: Phone call reporting subject armed with a gun causes 5 schools to lock-down

EAST HEMET – Several East Hemet area schools activated their emergency lock-down protocols Tuesday, Feb. 14, after an anonymous caller reported having a gun near a school in East Hemet.

Riverside County emergency dispatchers received the phone call about 11 a.m., according to sheriff’s and school officials.

Although the male caller did not specify which school he was near with the gun, one employee from Helen Hunt Jackson College Prep High School wrote on social media that the caller allegedly provided the address or indicated in some way that he was at or near Helen Hunt Jackson, an alternative education high school for Hemet area students.

As a precautionary measure, deputies placed Helen Hunt Jackson and Dartmouth Middle School on lock-down while they searched the area for the caller and worked to determine if there was any credible threat to schools in the area.

While the schools were on lock-down, many parents took to social media, speculating about the cause of the lock-downs at the five schools. Several parents claimed they had not been notified by the schools or school district regarding the lock-downs. Others expressed concern regarding the claims of a person armed with a gun at or near area schools.

No arrests were reported as of noon and sheriff officials advised the affected schools they could lift their lock-downs.

After the lock-downs were lifted, Hemet Unified School District spokeswoman Alexandrea Cass explained, “Helen Hunt Jackson College Prep High School and Dartmouth Middle School were placed on lock down due to police activity in the area. Hemet High School, Ramona Elementary, and Little Lake Elementary opted to place their school’s on lock down as an added precaution.”

“(HUSD officials) thank the Riverside County Sheriff’s Department for communicating with the schools that were in the area and advising them to go on lock-down to ensure the safety of our students,” Cass wrote in an email after the incident.

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Trevor Montgomery spent 10 years in the U.S. Army as an Orthopedic Specialist before joining the Riverside County Sheriff’s Department in 1998. He was medically retired after losing his leg in an off-duty accident.

During his time with the sheriff’s department, Trevor worked at several different stations, including the Robert Presley Detention Center, the Southwest Station in Temecula, the Hemet Station, and the Lake Elsinore Station, along with many other locations.