Lockdown Lifted At Shelby County Schools After Stolen Car Chase

The lockdown has been lifted at three Shelby County, Tennessee, schools after they were put on alert following a stolen car chase near the schools. The lockdown at the three schools, including Sheffield High School, on Thursday morning was merely a precautionary measure, and authorities did not necessarily have reason to believe students were in danger.

The stolen car chase involved a Mississippi man’s truck being stolen by three people, resulting in a subsequent police chase. The Memphis Police Department said that once they began following the stolen truck, the three suspects stopped and ran from the vehicle. WBRC reported that the direction the three suspects ran was towards one of the schools. Fortunately, the three suspects have since been caught and taken into custody, which is why the lockdown was lifted shortly afterwards.

According to Local Memphis, the lockdown only lasted about an hour and began a little after 11 in the morning. The three schools that were put on lockdown were Sheffield High School, Sheffield Elementary, and the Shrine School.

The truck’s owner, Jim Holmes, explained what happened by saying, “I just drove up to Sherwin-Williams to get some supplies from them and I left my truck running because I was going to just be in and right back out and when I turned around to get the truck it was leaving…Speechless for a while, because I couldn’t believe it was mine. I couldn’t believe it was my truck driving off.”

While this incident was merely a scare for the local schools involved in the lockdown, it seems to be a valuable lesson for local Memphis drivers and car owners to never leave their keys in their car or leave their car running, even if they won’t be gone long.

Jim Holmes reiterated that sentiment by saying, “It’s crazy; it’s wild out here. I hope they [the suspects] grow up and understand that life is not easy for anyone. They don’t need to be taking anything that doesn’t belong to them…How crazy is that to hear that your truck was stolen this morning? Well it taught me a lesson, to always lock my doors…They need to grow up and understand that life is not easy for no one and they don’t need to be out here taking things that don’t belong to them.”

It’s not immediately clear how old the car theft suspects are and their identities have not yet been released. Regardless of the situation, it’s reassuring to see schools reacting so promptly to a potential security threat and putting the safety of the students first by putting the surrounding schools on lockdown.

The Shelby County lockdowns weren’t the only school lockdowns across the country on Thursday. KEYE TV in Austin, Texas, reported that a lockdown at McNeil High School in the Austin area also took place on Thursday.

Just arrived at McNeil High School. It looks like parents are picking up students. So far no police @KVUE pic.twitter.com/e7PD0eLDDL

— Brandon Jones (@BrandonJ_KVUE) February 4, 2016

The district placed the McNeil High school on lockdown around 1:50 p.m. to “address a concern” that has not been elaborated on. Fortunately. that lockdown was also lifted around 2:30 p.m. after an investigation concluded that the school was secure and all students were safe.

[Photo by Christopher Furlong/Getty Images]