Timeline: Why Police Chase Forced Mission Viejo School Lockdown

By now you've heard about the lockdown of four Mission Viejo schools Tuesday afternoon. (Mission Viejo High, La Paz Intermediate, Esperanza Special Intermediate and High School and Linda Vista Elementary schools, for those keeping track).

You've seen the photos of the bank robber police believed they were chasing at the time.

Here's a closer look.

This timeline, based on the Orange County Sheriff's Department blotter, reflects what police knew, when they knew it. It also shows them struggling with conflicting information.

The timeline shows police searching for a possible bank robber who broke into two houses near Marguerite Parkway and Jeronimo around 12:45 p.m., disturbing the women inside.

It also shows the confusion over a truant student that led to the suspect's escape, according to Orange County Sheriff's Department Sgt. Sandi Kirsch.

(As you read, you may want to follow along using this map.)

• Irvine Police report two bank robberies, the second around 11:20 a.m.  They said the man in the above photo committed the robberies.
• 12:42 p.m.: A man wearing a gray beanie, gray flannel and Vans tennis shoes is seen running up the driveway of a woman's home on the 27200 block of Via Amistoso, near the Marguerite/Jeronimo intersection. He asked to borrow the woman's car, then jumped a fence into a back yard.
• 12:44 p.m. Police arrived at the Amistoso home, but found no suspect or vehicle.
• 12:58 p.m. On a separate call, a man broke into a house on Preciados Drive, near Marguerite.  He found a woman real estate agent inside, then he walked out the door. The agent described the intruder as a white man in his 20s in a dark cap, hoodie and jeans. Police later discovered this was a truant student, not the bank robber.
• 12:52 p.m. A deputy spotted someone fitting the suspect description behind Sebastian Lane, about 1,000 feet south of Via Amistoso in the direction of the four schools put on lockdown.
• 12:54 p.m.: Two more police units spot a possible suspect near the La Paz/Chrisanta intersection. According to the bell schedule posted on the website of Mission Viejo High School (which borders La Paz and Chrisanta), students were out for lunch from 12:24 p.m. to 1:04 p.m. They would have been crossing the intersection at the time.
  
• 12:56 p.m. Police ask school resource officers to close Esperanza. Forty-seven seconds later, one of the school resource officers reported spotting the suspect running away on La Paz toward the school track. Kirsch said he turned out to be a student trying to ditch school, not the bank robber.
• 12:58: Police lock down Mission Viejo High School.
• 1 p.m.: La Paz Intermediate locks down. By 1:02 p.m., police have asked school officials to clear the streets of students.
• 1:03 p.m.: Believing the ditching student is the suspect, police are advised the bank robber may be in the MVHS boy’s locker room. Seconds later, police discover they’ve been chasing the wrong person when the truant boy is captured in front of room four.
• 1:04 p.m. A resident near the corner of Chrisanta and Pradera reports seeing someone hiding beneath a car.
• 1:08 p.m. The blotter reads: “unlocked Linda Vista School.”
• 1:12 p.m. A Pradera resident spots a “young male” with “curly, blondish hair” in her back yard.
• 1:41 p.m. Police give the order to reopen schools.

Check back later for a response from the school district explaining its lockdown policy, as well as how parents are notified.