A suspicious vehicle parked in the student parking lot at Mira Costa High School led to a shelter-in-place order at Mira Costa and Pennekamp Elementary on Tuesday afternoon before the situation was cleared.

The vehicle, which was found to have weapons inside, turned out to belong to a subcontractor doing work at Mira Costa. The owner of the vehicle was taken into custody, and the subcontracting company was ordered to remove all employees from MBUSD campuses. The shelter-in-place order was lifted once it was determined there was no threat to the community. 

According to a message to Mira Costa families from Mira Costa Principal Jennifer Huynh: 

"At approximately 1:32 p.m. on Tuesday, September 15, Mira Costa High School students reported to security and administration that there was a suspicious vehicle parked in the student parking lot. To ensure the safety and security of all students and staff, MCHS and Pennekamp initiated a Shelter-in-Place to allow time to address the situation. MBPD located the involved vehicle.

"Following an investigation, MBPD ultimately recovered weapons from the vehicle. The owner of the vehicle was identified, interviewed, and later taken into custody without incident. MBPD investigators have no information at this time indicating that the subject intended to use the weapons to cause harm. Upon further follow-up, it has been determined that the individual was a subcontractor performing work on the Mira Costa campus. The subcontracting company was immediately ordered to remove all employees from MBUSD campuses. Per MBPD, there is no current threat to the community and/or our schools, and we believe this is an isolated event. However, MBPD maintains patrols around all schools and will continue to do so. 

"As always, we are grateful to our students for alerting us to this situation. We are also grateful for the swift response from our staff and MBPD to ensure everyone's safety. We know these moments can cause anxiety and we're thankful for everyone's cooperation in following our emergency response protocols."

Mira Costa and Pennekamp have fully returned to normal schedules.