Southridge High locked down after Kennewick police link car to suspected gun threat

Southridge High School was locked down for about a half an hour Thursday morning after police found a car tied to an armed threat.

The lockdown stemmed from an investigation that started on Aug. 24, according to a Kennewick news release.

Someone in the car pointed a gun at another person outside the car in an apartment complex parking lot near the corner of Clearwater Avenue and Edison Street, said Kennewick police Commander Christian Walters.

Walters told the Herald that case is still under investigation and didn’t want to release more information on whether the two people knew each other.

Detectives had been searching for the car since the incident and discovered it in the Southridge High School parking lot on Thursday morning, Walters said.

Officers signaled the car to stop and as they were approaching, the driver drove away. Police didn’t have sufficient reason to chase it, but when the car returned to the school lot, officers asked for the lockdown about 11 a.m., Kennewick police said in the release.

The car drove off again and police found it on the 1600 block of South Union Street.

The 17-year-old driver was arrested for failing to obey police, and the car was towed away.

Officers didn’t say if the teen was tied to the previous threat incident or if they are looking for any other suspects. The teen’s name was not released.

The school lockdown was lifted after about 30 minutes, said Robyn Chastain, Kennewick School District’s executive director of communications and public relations.