Quick Take
Santa Cruz County sheriff’s deputies closed down Highway 1 north of Davenport in both directions and put the nearby elementary school on a shelter-in-place order for over two hours Tuesday afternoon while they pursued a suspect, who was apprehended after an hourslong manhunt.
Santa Cruz County sheriff’s deputies closed down Highway 1 north of Davenport in both directions and put the nearby elementary school on a shelter-in-place order for over two hours Tuesday while they pursued a suspect who was apprehended after an hourslong manhunt.
As of 6 p.m., sheriff’s office spokesperson Ashley Keehn said a suspect was in custody. She did not have information on charges or how the suspect was apprehended.
The sheriff’s office said it responded to a call at 12:23 p.m. Tuesday in Bonny Doon for a family disturbance “involving a male suspect brandishing a shotgun,” according to the office’s Instagram account.
Before deputies arrived at the home, the suspect fled and reportedly took a shotgun. Deputies later found the suspect’s car and gun in the Davenport area.
“As a precaution, Pacific Elementary School was placed on a shelter-in-place order, which has since been lifted,” the sheriff’s office wrote on Instagram. “We do not believe there is a continued threat to the Davenport community and will update this post with any further information.”
Pacific Elementary Superintendent Eric Gross said the school’s staff and students were safe and the law enforcement officials were more than 100 yards away.
Just after 2 p.m. Tuesday, Gross watched the scene unfold from Whale City Bakery, where he could have a vantage point of the school and the deputies, at Ocean Street and Highway 1.
“They’ve got drones up in the air and lots of officers who are clearly heavily armed,” he said while deputies were still there.
Keehn said the deputies reopened the highway at 3:30 p.m. for traffic in both directions. “We do not believe the suspect was in the immediate area any longer so the highway was reopened,” she said.
Earlier in the day, the Keehn said deputies were searching for 53-year-old Eric Britton of Bonny Doon.
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