Rodeo Hills Elementary took a precautionary measure this morning…

Interrupted burglary prompts school lockdown in Rodeo

By Karl Fischer

Rodeo Hills Elementary School officials briefly locked down the campus Thursday morning after a pair of burglars surprised the occupant of a house in neighboring Hercules and fled.

Police did not order the lockdown, Hercules police Chief Fred Deltorchio said; the school apparently acted on its own as a precaution after an officer asked a gardener there if he’d seen anyone resembling the burglars in the area.

The resident on the 1000 block of Regatta Point woke after someone threw a rock through his back window about 9:30 a.m. He went downstairs and found two men in the house. One pointed a gun and ordered him upstairs, Deltorchio said.

About 10 a.m., after he was sure the burglars were gone, the resident called police, who searched the area without success. They took a laptop computer from the house, Deltorchio said. Burglars using a similar method of entry stole from a house on the same block last week, he said.