SPPD: SPHS locked down after man
holding rifle spotted on Palm Court

October 22, 2014
Santa Paula News

An area man who argued with his mother and then tried to damage her fence was arrested Friday after a student attending the Santa Paula High School Homecoming football game spied the man holding a rifle.

According to Santa Paula Police Sgt. Ken Clark, the incident occurred October 17 at about 8:30 p.m. and led school officials to lockdown the campus.

During the game, held on the field west of the main 6th Street campus, “A student thought he saw a person behind the bleachers hitting a fence with what he thought was a shotgun,” said Clark.

A witness said the halftime show had just been completed when the report of the man with a weapon led to the lockdown; students who had participated in the show were inside the gym and not allowed to exit.

When police arrived on scene they found the man who had been in the backyard of his mother’s Palm Court home who, following an argument, had been battering her fence with a rifle.

Said Clark, “We called him out and he said he was upset with his mother and trying to break the fence... and used a .22 rifle, an error in judgment on his part.”

The man, Ryan Romero, 31 of Santa Paula, was suspected of being intoxicated.

Clark said Romero was taken into custody without incident “Because of his proximity to the school grounds,” while carrying the rifle as well as being a “Felon in possession of a firearm.”

Romero added Clark, was taken to Ventura County Jail. 

The game ended around 10 p.m. and school officials had ordered the lockdown lifted as of 10:20 p.m.





Site Search

E-Subscribe

Subscribe

E-SUBSCRIBE
Call 805 525 1890 to receive the entire paper early. $50.00 for one year.

webmaster