Berkeley High School Principal Pasquale Scuderi sent the following email memo out to parents at 5:05 p.m. It appears below in its entirety. To subscribe to the school email list, send a message to bhs-request@lmi.net with the word “subscribe” in the subject line.
Dear Staff and Families:
We had a sizable police presence on the southeast end of campus today (Milvia and Channing).
What we can share with you is that a robbery occurred about a half mile from campus sometime between 2:40 and 2:45 p.m. There was no weapon involved in the incident and neither the victim nor the suspect were identified as BHS students.
Shortly thereafter police began pursuing a suspect. Subsequent to that we were notified by our school resource officer from BPD that the suspect might be attempting to access campus. Safety staff and administrators began responding immediately.
While unable to access any areas where there were staff or students, the suspect did briefly enter the construction zone on Milvia through a gate where vehicles and equipment were being brought in and out of the site. The suspect was immediately apprehended by officers in pursuit.
Administrators made preparations for a full perimeter closure or lockdown, although ultimately neither protocol needed to be initiated.
Police did search the roofs of classrooms in the portables to recover some property that the suspect may have thrown on to a roof from outside the campus on the Milvia side.
We are pleased with the response of our security staff and the police department and, as with all incidents of this nature, will review that response in detail. We will also confer with district staff and contractors and review security adjustments that may need to be made to the construction site as that project evolves.
Obviously with students likely to come home tonight with stories of police officers on the rooftops of their classrooms we wanted to get ahead of speculation and let you know precisely why they were there.
Campus safety remains a priority and we will always seek to provide you with as much detail and information as possible where incidents or concerns arise.
Respectfully,
Pasquale Scuderi
Principal
Berkeley High School
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