Police Apprehend Man Who Tried to Gain Unauthorized Entry to Elementary School

State College Police responded Friday morning to a report of a suspicious person who tried to gain unauthorized entry to Easterly Parkway Elementary School.

The man was apprehended nearby by police.

Superintendent Bob O’Donnell wrote in a post on the State College Area School District Facebook page that at about 10:45 a.m. a man tried to gain unauthorized entry through the main entrance.

‘Due to security measures in place, he was unable to enter,’ O’Donnell wrote. ‘The building secretaries immediately called 911, and within minutes, police apprehended the person a block away.’

After the man was taken into custody, police conducted a sweep of the school grounds and surrounding area, including use of a K-9 unit. O’Donnell said there was ‘a report that there was a gun involved,’ but that the man who was apprehended was unarmed and no gun was found during the search.

‘In this instance, our security system worked as planned,’ O’Donnell wrote. ‘However, as always with security matters, our district team will review not only what happened this morning, but also our security measures district-wide.’

Police were continuing to investigate the incident on Friday afternoon and will debrief faculty and administrators after school on Friday.

This story will be updated