St. Anne’s-Belfield School’s Belfield Campus in Albemarle County was placed under a brief lockdown Monday morning after a hit-and-run was reported just off campus.
A safety notification sent to parents at 9:42 a.m. Monday said students at the school’s Belfield Campus, which houses its preschool-through-eighth grade Learning Village and the majority of its athletic facilities, were sheltering in place due to an "active situation occurring outside of campus."
By 10 a.m., a second notification alerted parents that the shelter-in-place had been lifted and that student dismissal Monday would be taking place at its regular time.
It wasn’t until a third notification that STAB told parents that the "outside activity" was a hit-and-run.
"Today, local authorities notified St. Anne’s-Belfield School about a vehicle hit and run that occurred at the 250 exit near the Belfield (Learning Village) Campus," the message reads. "While we were not under any active threat, in an abundance of caution, we placed Pre-School through Grade 8 in a shelter-in-place action."
The shelter-in-place, the school said, was lifted as soon as authorities informed the school that the suspect in the hit-and-run had left the area.
Albemarle County police confirmed that officers had contacted school administrators to inform them they were searching for a suspect connected to an off-campus hit-and-run around 9:30 a.m. Monday.
"It was a crash, and one of the drivers fled the scene. The officers went to go find that individual and the school went under a brief, a very brief, lockdown. Once they checked the area, they lifted it," Abbey Stumpf, a police spokeswoman, told The Daily Progress. "It looks like they were driving without a license, with a suspended license. It wasn’t an issue of a dangerous suspect."
Stumpf said she did not have a status update on the suspect’s whereabouts.
STAB administrators said operations at the school had returned to normal by late morning after the lockdown lifted.
Source: www.dailyprogress.com
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