Temporary lockdown alert issued at Wasilla area schools

WASILLA — Three schools in the Wasilla area were temporarily locked down Wednesday.

The Wasilla Police Department received a report of a potentially harmful person near Wasilla High School and Wasilla Middle School about 10:45 a.m. The schools were notified, and as a precaution, a lock down alert was issued, according to Wasilla High principal Jason Marvel. That alert was extended to Iditarod Elementary.

Soon after the alert, the person in question was taken into custody.

“The potential for threat was external, and no threat was made targeting schools,” Marvel said in a post on his school’s Facebook page.

The schools were locked down as the Wasilla Police Department was attempting to contact a person in the area who was believed to have a gun and in need of mental health assistance, WPD Public Information Officer Amanda Graham said in an email Wednesday.

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