Any individual that thinks it’s okay to walk around our school grounds carrying a hatchet, or doing anything that’s even slightly alarming in 2023, please think otherwise. This is not funny. This is not something to joke around with. We are going to take any modicum of a threat to students and children’s safety in the city of Cottage Grove seriously.”

Dan Schoen, Cottage Grove Community Engagement Officer

The man in question was walking alone, shirtless and wearing a backpack, wielding a hatchet and carrying a knife on his belt. He was seen by students through classroom windows, walking outside Park High School between the school and the ice arena around 2:40 p.m. Police are looking for any information that can help in identifying the man.

Four Cottage Grove schools were briefly locked down Thursday, April 13, due to reports of a “suspicious man” in the area. Park High School, Crestview Elementary, Hillside Elementary, and Armstrong Elementary were all put into lockdown status until the potential threat was investigated and cleared by police.

The man in question was walking alone, shirtless and wearing a backpack, wielding a hatchet and carrying a knife on his belt. He was seen by students through classroom windows, walking outside Park High School between the school and the ice arena around 2:40 p.m.

“Just prior to students being released for the day, we were notified that one of the science classes had seen this male walking along the school building on the west side,” said Cottage Grove Community Engagement Officer Dan Schoen. “They saw this individual outside of their classroom with a hatchet, a knife on his waist, with a backpack and no shirt on, smoking a cigarette. The man was walking on school grounds around the time that release was supposed to happen. He was out there on school property, not just walking along the sidewalk, and this was definitely in an area where students could potentially be.”

At the time it happened, no surveillance footage of the individual was captured, but police believe the students’ accounts to be accurate, as he was seen by more than one person. There was no direct interaction between the individual and any students or staff, other than the visual that they saw through the windows.

“It caused alarm because of what he presented to everybody,” said Schoen.

Police investigating the matter don’t yet know if the man was there with nefarious intentions, but the potential threat was taken seriously, prompting a lockdown of Park High School and the surrounding elementary schools out of an abundance of caution.

According to Schoen, police were told that “the individual walked across 80th Street into the neighborhood down toward Hillside School. That was our reasoning for acting in an extreme state of caution. We sent officers over there to be present in the area, and we did the same thing at Crestview Elementary and Armstrong Elementary, just to comb the entire neighborhood.”

He added, “We’re going to do everything we can to protect our kids. Several officers have kids that go there, so we understand how parents are going to feel. More than anything, we want to make sure that our community feels safe, and we want to be able to respond to these things when they come up.”

Lockdown procedures can vary between schools, depending on the situation presented, but in this circumstance the primary goal was to keep all of the students inside locked doors to continue their day safely while police canvassed the area for the person in question.

“This is an event that took place outside of a school,” said Schoen. “We didn’t have any immediate threats in the buildings, but we knew that it was possible that this individual was coming toward the area. We wanted to make sure that the doors were locked, and we had time to look in the area before we let the students back outside. Unfortunately, in 2023, these are things that kids rehearse for. They watch the news, too.”

Schoen made clear that situations like this are not treated lightly, saying, “Any individual that thinks it’s okay to walk around our school grounds carrying a hatchet, or doing anything that’s even slightly alarming in 2023, please think otherwise. This is not funny. This is not something to joke around with. We are going to take any modicum of a threat to students and children’s safety in the city of Cottage Grove seriously.”

Police are looking for any information that can help in identifying the man.