By Doug Petrowski

Two Mountlake Terrace schools were placed into lockdown for 35 minutes Friday morning as police searched an area near Mountlake Terrace High School for a suspect believed to have been involved in a stolen vehicle case.

All the exterior doors to Mountlake Terrace High were locked at approximately 8:30 a.m.; no students or staff was allowed to leave the building during the “modified lockdown.”

At Cedar Way Elementary, the lockdown came at a time when students are arriving for the normal 8:40 a.m. start time of classes. Buses bringing students to the school were diverted to Mountlake Terrace High School; there, the students were escorted into the high school’s theater. The lockdown was lifted at 9:05 a.m. and students re-boarded their buses for transport to Cedar Way Elementary.

“We take the safety and security of our students very seriously and I want to reassure you all that this was a precautionary measure to keep everyone safe,” MTHS Principal Greg Schwab said in a letter sent to parents.

A neighbor west of the high school reported seeing a man they suspected in a recent car theft and called police. “Although they had numerous officers in the area and a K-9 track was done, the suspect was not located,” Mountlake Terrace Police Commander Doug Hansen said late Friday.