3 Rock Hill schools temporarily secured as York County sheriff’s deputies chase suspect
Three Rock Hill school district campuses were placed on “secure” status Thursday during the chase of a suspect by York County Sheriff’s Office deputies, officials said.
The incident was late Thursday morning in the area of Firetower Road, Porter Road, and Interstate 77, according to a video statement from Trent Faris, sheriff’s office spokesman. Deputies chased a suspect in a car believed to be stolen from Union County, N.C. The chase was first in vehicles and then on foot, Faris said.
The sheriff’s office released a Facebook Live video about the incident before noon Thursday on its official social media site.
The suspect was taken into custody after the pursuit, Faris said in the video. And schools returned to normal activities.
The name of the suspect has not been released.
The pursuit and incident prompted a heavy law enforcement presence in the area.
Schools were notified by law enforcement, Faris said.
The schools affected Thursday were Castle Heights Middle School, Rock Hill High School, and Independence Elementary School, according to Rock Hill schools spokesperson Lindsay Machak and a school district email bulletin sent out to families from those schools. Alerts sent around 10:15 a.m. said the incident was ongoing and schools were on secure status.
That schools message stated:
“Our top priority is keeping your children safe each and every day.
Castle Heights, Rock Hill High School and Independence Elementary have been placed on SECURE.
We are bringing all children indoors and won’t be allowing anyone in or out of the buildings as our law enforcement partners notified us that they are working on a situation in the area.
We will notify you when the SECURE has been lifted.”
A second message after noon said the secure status was lifted.
Secure status is not a lockdown, Machak said.
Secure status means all students and staff are brought inside the building, outside doors are locked, and school business goes on inside buildings as usual, according to Machak and a “secure” status definition on the school district Web site.
This story was originally published August 24, 2023 at 1:34 PM.
