Home»Community Home»Community Reno»Officials end search, open streets after investigation of shots "heard" near Washoe County Jail

Officials end search, open streets after investigation of shots "heard" near Washoe County Jail

Page Last Updated: Wednesday December 16, 2009 3:07pm PST

Officials from the sheriff’s office patrol the area near the Washoe County Jail where shots were “heard” at 7:20 a.m. Wednesday. Photograph courtesy News 4’s Kausik Bhakta.

After a morning-long search, authorities say the Washoe County Sheriff's Office and Jail are open for business and no longer on lock down status following an incident where experts reported hearing gun shots in the area Wednesday.

Authorities received reports Wednesday morning that shots were fired near the Washoe County Jail on Parr Boulevard.

The Washoe County Sheriff's Office and the Reno Police Department responded to the incident and were visible from surrounding roadways and neighborhoods. The Raven helicopter searched the entire area with heat-seeking capabilities, according to Deputy Brooke Keast.

Keast said shots might have been fired at about 7:20 a.m. in the area, but they were only heard and not seen, so the sheriff's office was investigating.

Although officials were looking into the "shots heard" incident, Keast said, those that heard the sound are trained to know what a discharged firearm sounds like; so they were taking the extra search precautions.

"[It was] a tinny sound, like metal hitting metal," Keast said.

Sheriff Mike Haley said during a press briefing that investigators "have a high confidence" that the sounds were shots fired, and if so they know of individuals that they have spoken with previously that would become "persons of interest," whom investigators would then like to question again. He said those individuals are from area businesses.

If needed, Regional Transportation Commission buses were made available to transport employees from area businesses if they needed or wanted to leave, Haley said. The action was not an evacuation, he said, just a precaution to keep the employees safe.

Early on, the media was relocated from the 7/11 to the Bonanza Casino as a safety precaution, authorities said.

The Washoe County Jail and Sheriff's Office are located on 911 East Parr Boulevard and no inmates were missing, Keast said, adding the jail and other facilities were locked down for safety.
Haley said there is a shooting range nearby, but it was closed at the time of the incident.
A "coordinated sweep" of the neighborhoods affected was conducted during the incident by members of the Washoe County School District School Police and transportation staff in order to locate and pick up any students who might have been waiting at bus stops in the area, according to Spokesman Ron Cooney.

Those students were brought to the Bonanza Casino parking lot WCSD Transportation "had initiated a command post and a staging area for the buses," Cooney said. From there, students were safely transported to school, he said.

District Emergency Manager Chris Smith said the impacted schools--Hug High School, Elmcrest, Peavine, and Sarah Winnemucca Elementary schools-were notified of the students' delayed arrival.

A Connect-ED message was sent to parents notifying them of the situation, and requesting that they escort their students directly to schools or to the Bonanza. Updates were also posted on Twitter, Cooney said.

Transportation units and staff stayed at the Bonanza until 10 a.m. to ensure that all students were safe, Cooney said.

Stay with News 4 and MyNews4.com for additional details.

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