By Laurel Walker of the Journal Sentinel
Waukesha - A report of a man crouched and armed with a gun south of Waukesha West High School caused a temporary lockdown of students Tuesday morning.
The man, it turns out, was on the lookout for a coyote in the neighborhood.
A squad from both the Waukesha County Sheriff's Department and the Waukesha Police Department responded to River Road and Foxvale Court in the Town of Waukesha near the city border about 8:30 a.m., Waukesha Police Capt. Ron Oremus said.
After talking to the man and reporting no problem, the lockdown was canceled about 8:55 a.m., Oremus said.
Waukesha West Principal David Towers said the man with a gun was about a mile from the school and the lockdown was precautionary. Students stayed in their classrooms and teachers continued teaching during the nearly half-hour lockdown, he said.
About Laurel Walker
Laurel Walker covered local, school and county government for 20 years -- the last half of that at the Milwaukee Journal and Milwaukee Journal Sentinel -- before she was named Waukesha County columnist in 1997. Today she writes about the people, places and events around metropolitan Milwaukee with a broad suburban focus.
She was the youngest of nine children raised on a central Wisconsin farm before leaving the nest for journalism studies at the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire and a masters degree at the University of Oregon.
She has spent the last half of her life in Waukesha County, where she and her husband raised two sons. Though she has a fondness for life in Waukesha, she eagerly partakes in the culture of the big city to the east and the recreation of the forests to the west. With sons in the arts, she has a special fondness for symphonic music concerts and art museums. She finds peace in a good book at a Northwoods getaway weekend, adventure in family visits to the east and west coasts, and satisfaction in a column well-written that reaches readers.
