Beardstown Schools were placed on a soft lock down at mid-day today after local authorities searched for an armed suspect.
According to a report from the Cass County Sheriff’s Office, at 11:58AM, the Beardstown Police and Cass County Sheriff’s Department were dispatched to the 1300 block of Jackson Street in Beardstown for a man running with a weapon. Cass County Sheriff Devron Ohrn says in the release that due to the close proximity to schools and school-aged children, the schools were contacted to be placed on lock down. The incident was about 3/4 of a mile west of the Beardstown Jr./Sr. High School.
Ohrn says the decision to go on soft lock down was made to not disrupt the learning environment and to make sure no students were placed in harm’s way. Ohrn says no threats were made towards any schools or any towards any school children in the incident.
Ohrn says the case remains under investigation, and at this time, there is no known threat to public safety. Ohrn says if you live in the area of the incident and may have security camera footage from 11:52AM-12:10PM today to contact 217-323-3131 or 217-452-7718 with any information.
Ohrn says he is thankful for cooperation from private citizens and between school staff in the matter.