Minford locks down for a short time Friday

By Frank Lewis
[email protected]

Quick work by the Scioto County Sheriff’s Office put Minford Local Schools on lockdown for a short time Friday morning as a precaution following a report of a man with a gun being in that vicinity.

“A little bit ago we had a lady who lives by the (Minford) Pharmacy and she said she saw someone walk through her yard with a gun in his hand. She said it looked like a shotgun,” Captain Shawn Sparks of the Scioto County Sheriff”s Office said. “She said he walked toward the pharmacy maybe toward the school. So I took it upon myself to call the schools to put them on lockdown for safety.”

The concern was the result of the proximity of the schools to the pharmacy meaning anyone walking toward the pharmacy is also walking in the same direction as the Minford Schools.

Sparks said two deputies responded to the scene immediately to check the area around the school and to talk to the woman who placed the call.

“After our officers talked to her, at that point, she wasn’t sure if she had really seen a gun or not but someone did walk through her yard,” Sparks said. “We went ahead and checked the area again and found nothing but everything is back the way it should be now. There’s no lockdown or anything like that.”

Superintendent Barbara Dever told the Daily Times around 10:30 Friday morning things were back to near normal.

“We did end the lockdown,” Dever said. “It was only for a short time this (Friday) morning. The sheriff’s department had contacted us and thought it was in our best interest to go ahead and lock down. Then they came out and investigated the report then stopped back by to give us the all clear.”

Dever said, while the school system was out of lockdown mode, she was still implementing one restriction.

“We’re still not letting anybody outside the building to go from building to building, but it’s just precautionary,” Dever said.