Report comes as district was under soft lockdown
By Ryan Spoehr
Staff Writer
In what was already a state of heightened alertness, a suspicious person was reported in the vicinity of Whitewater Middle School with a weapon in his waistband during school hours.
The Whitewater Police Department reported on April 7 that the man was seen with the gun and the department responded to the scene at 1:50 p.m. According to a department press release, the subject proceeded to go inside a Walworth Avenue residence and refused to come out.
As this was going on, Whitewater Unified School District schools were on a soft lockdown already because of the unknown whereabouts of Joseph Jakubowski, a Janesville man who had been named as a suspect in an armed robbery of a gun shop in nearby Janesville.
“We were provided information that was serious in nature and we decided to lock down,” said District Superintendent Mark Elworthy.
However, according to a press release from the City of Whitewater on April 7, the situation was unrelated to Jakubowski.
Following the April 7 incident, students from the high school, middle school and Lincoln Elementary were moved off campus to the Young Auditorium at the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater.
“I appreciate how in-tune people were,” Elworthy said. “We spent a lot of time practicing over the past two years. We took it seriously.
“Preparation made it effective. We know our plan worked. We knew we had people we could reach out to.”
Elworthy credited teachers and staff, Nelson’s Bus Service and law enforcement for responding to the situation accordingly and in a prompt manner.
“At the district (office) and buildings, our role is to be supportive and acknowledge good work. It’s an incredibly supportive community,” Elworthy said.
In late February, Whitewater High School was locked down after two suspicious packages were found. Just like in last week’s lockdown, students were shuttled to the Young Auditorium as a precautionary measure.
