UPDATE: Teen arrested after causing lockdown at 3 Kennewick schools

Police arrested a 17-year-old who sent Southridge High School into a 45-minute lockdown Thursday.

Kennewick police reported that the 17-year-old was booked into the Benton Franklin Juvenile Detention Center on a charge of second-degree burglary for going into the school, said Officer Craig Hanson. His name was not released.

Southridge High School officials initially received a report of a 17-year-old in the school with a gun in his backpack at 11:20 a.m., according to notices sent out by the Kennewick School District, and a report from the Kennewick Police Department.

The teen was a suspect in a September 2021 burglary at Ranch & Home where several firearms were stolen, said police.

Investigators had not been able to confirm whether the teen actually had a gun on Thursday, police Lt. Jason Kiel said in a release.

While the teen was at the school, he didn’t threaten any of the students.

But district officials had students stay in classrooms while Kennewick officers searched the building.

As an additional precaution, the district also closed the doors at nearby Chinook Middle School and Sage Crest Elementary.

At the same time, Southridge’s school resource officer and several officers began trying to find the teen.

After a search that included using video cameras to track his path through the campus, police learned that he had already left the area. The district lifted the lockdown at about 12:20 p.m.

Additional police stayed at the school after it reopened.

The teen was located later and arrested.

This story was originally published January 20, 2022 at 1:33 PM.