Alarm, police disrupt high school burglary

A large police response at University High School netted a teen burglar early Saturday, and a parent turned in two more suspected burglars after they returned home.

Spokane Valley Police, responding to a burglary alarm at the school just after midnight, found an open door.

“The suspects started to come out and then ran back in,” said Spokane Valley Police Sgt. Doug Lawson.

Other officers responded to cover the exits and waited more than an hour for a Spokane Police K-9 unit to search the large, two-story building, Lawson said. The Spokane County Sheriff’s Office helicopter circled the school repeatedly, drawing the attention of neighbors.

One teen ran outside and was arrested. When the boy’s cell phone rang, Lawson answered it and spoke to a mother looking for two teens who had been with the boy earlier. The two apparently escaped from the school before police surrounded it, and the woman turned the two over to police when they arrived home, Lawson said.

A 15-year-old and two 17-year-old boys were arrested and charged with second-degree burglary, a felony. Police believe a fourth person may have been involved.

Lawson said the teens didn’t damage the school, and nothing appears to have been stolen.

Police think one of the teens may have been in the school during the day when it was open and put some tape over a door bolt to keep the door from closing properly.

“We don’t know what they were going to do,” Lawson said.