Man taken into custody on roof of former elementary school in Olympia
A 40-year-old man was arrested early Sunday after police say he broke into a former elementary school in northeast Olympia.
The man, who has no known address, was booked into the Thurston County Jail on suspicion of second-degree commercial burglary.
About 12:30 a.m. Sunday, police were dispatched to the 2000 block of 26th Avenue Northeast, the site of the former John R. Rogers Elementary School that is now used for school district storage, police Lt. Paul Lower said.
A school district employee received an alert about a building alarm, and that employee was able to remotely observe the alleged burglar via security cameras, Lower said.
There was an added assist: Officers who responded to the burglary had recently taken part in active shooter training in the same building, so they were familiar with it, Lower said.
Officers surrounded the former school and then used a K9 to try to get the suspect to exit the building. Instead, he chose to exit out on to the roof. Police, also familiar with the roof access, later took him into custody.
Although the man had no merchandise on him at the time of the arrest, police say they found evidence of equipment being stacked for removal inside the former school.
This story was originally published April 7, 2019 at 2:42 PM.
