St. Joseph High School and Righetti High School put on precautionary lockdown

SANTA BARBARA COUNTY, Calif. – St. Joseph High School in Orcutt and Righetti High School were put on lockdown Tuesday morning around 10:07 a.m. while deputies investigated reports of a suspicious subject, according to the sheriff's office.

Raquel Zick, public information officer for the Santa Barbara County Sheriff's Office, said this lockdown was a precautionary measure.

Deputies are investigating reports of a suspicious subject at St. Joseph High School in Orcutt. St. Joe and Righetti High have been asked to lockdown as a precautionary measure. We will update info here as soon as it is available.

— PIO Raquel Zick (@SBSOPIO) May 31, 2022

As of 11:17 a.m., Zick said that Righetti High's lockdown was lifted.

Lockdown at Righetti is being lifted. Deputies still checking St. Joe.

— PIO Raquel Zick (@SBSOPIO) May 31, 2022

The Santa Maria Joint Unified High School District sent out a statement around 11:48 a.m. that said "The Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Office asked Righetti High School to shelter in place as a precautionary measure at 10:07 a.m. today. Righetti was not the location of the threat. There was reportedly a situation at a neighboring high school. School resumed at 11:19 a.m."

Around 2:00 p.m., Zick said that the reason for the lockdowns was because a student saw something suspicious and immediately reported it to an administrator.

Zick said that shortly before 10:00 a.m. Tuesday, the Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Office received a call of a subject with a firearm on campus.

St. Joseph High School went on lockdown before deputies arrived on campus, according to Zick.

Deputies arrived on the scene, briefly asked Righetti High to lockdown, and called in SBCSO's air support unit, a K-9 unit from Lompoc Police and a K-9 team from SBCSO, according to Zick.

After a thorough search of the area, Zick said that the deputies lifted the schools' lockdowns and escorted students out of their classrooms.

The sheriff's office said that no arrests were made, and no firearms were found.

Both lockdowns have been lifted as of 2:45 p.m.