VIDEO: Unknown man gets into Anderson High School

ANDERSON TOWNSHIP, Ohio (WXIX) - Several schools in the Forest Hills School district were put under a ‘soft lockdown’ after an unknown man got into Anderson High School and walked around until he was stopped by a staff member, the district superintendent says.

Forest Hills School District Superintendent Larry Hook wrote in a message to families that the incident happened around 11:15 a.m. on August 29.

“The individual entered the school through a door to a maintenance room that was propped open by an outside contractor,” the message from the superintendent said. “Shortly after, an Anderson High School staff member approached the individual and immediately removed him from the building. At no point in time did this individual interact with any students.”

Superintendent Hook wrote that they have talked with the outside contractor and the district has increased security measures for all third-party workers going forward.

“Based on the district’s review of available surveillance video, the individual never appeared to act in a threatening or aggressive manner. We don’t know for sure, but it appears it may have been someone who was lost,” the superintendent wrote.

Hook says local enforcement was consulted before the decision was made to go into a soft lockdown.

The district notified families about the lockdown around 2:04 p.m., district officials were told by the Hamilton County Sheriff’s Office that the lockdown could be lifted shortly after, and another message was sent to families around 2:35 p.m., the superintendent’s message said.

“I acknowledge that it took some time to provide information to families, but please know that we did not hesitate to act in the best interest of our students and staff,” he wrote.

Superindent Hook says the district has reviewed its response and will continue to talk about how to improve its response to incidents like this one.

In addition, Hook wrote, the school district added a second school resource officer at the beginning of this year and recently completed upgrades to all school entrances.

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