Kingston Elementary locked down Friday afternoon

A reported gunman in the neighborhood of Kingston Elementary School kept students indoors Friday afternoon.

"We heard, through [San Bernardino County Sheriff's Department] dispatch, a man armed with a gun was in a yard on Bascom Street," Chief Mike Graham, of the Hesperia Unified School District police, said Monday. "We told the school to go into lockdown and sent a couple of officers over there to see what was going on."

"It was approximately, I would say, 15 minutes," Kingston Principal Teresa Green said Monday afternoon. "It was so close to the end of the day that I was unable to get out a formal communication to the parents."

A letter explaining Friday's events was sent home to parents Monday afternoon.

"The sheriff's department had it under control in a matter of minutes, and everything was A-OK," Graham said. "But we do that just to play it safe in case things get stupid and things start flying, if you know what I mean."

According to Hesperia sheriff's station spokeswoman Roxanne Walker, Shane Rezendes arrested on an outstanding warrant on the 17800 block of Bascom Street on Friday afternoon, and had a BB gun in his possession. Another man was located with him at the same time, but was not arrested.

Rezendes, 20, is free on $75,000 bail, according to the sheriff's department bookings Web site.

School police were told that the sheriff's department had the two men in custody, Green said, and when the word was passed along to Kingston staff, the campus lockdown was lifted.

"Fortunately, the suspects never entered our campus," Green said. "Thank goodness, it was a happy ending for that day."

Beau Yarbrough can be reached at 956-7108 or at beau@hesperiastar.com.