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Students At Pinellas Schools Now Being Released

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By STEPHEN THOMPSON | The Tampa Tribune

Published: January 24, 2008

Updated: 01/24/2008 03:19 pm

Students at seven schools previously in lockdown are now being released, as authorities continue to search for a teenager riding a bicycle who witnesses say was toting three camouflage rifle cases, St. Petersburg police say.

The schools that were temporarily preventing anyone from leaving are Gibbs High School, Fairmount Elementary School, Boca Ciega High School, the Pinellas Technical Education Center, Gulfport Elementary School, Jamerson Elementary School and Hamilton Disston School, St. Petersburg police spokesman George Kajtsa said.

Those institutions cover a fairly large area, Kajtsa said. Reports of the rifle-bag toting bicyclist kept coming in from different locations.

The bicyclist is described as 16 or 17 years old with a stocky build, about 5-foot-5 to 5-foot-6-inches tall. He was seen wearing dark pants and a dark pullover long-sleeve shirt. The bicycle is green.

No one saw a rifle, St. Petersburg police spokesman Bill Proffitt said.

At the same time, Proffitt said, police are looking into a report that a student at Boca Ciega High School sent a threatening text message. He said police have not determined whether the student and the bag-toting bicyclist are the same person.

Police are stopping every bicyclist they come across, Kajtsa said. The bicyclist was last seen riding his bicycle toward the Pinellas Trail in the Childs Park area.

Reporter Stephen Thompson can be reached at (727) 451-2336 or spthompson@tampatrib.com.

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