WASHINGTON COUNTY, Va. (WJHL) – UPDATE – The Washington County Virginia Sheriff’s Office (WCSO) is asking for help finding a suspect who allegedly fled from police, prompting a local elementary school to go into lockdown.
A release from the WCSO states around 7:40 a.m., deputies responded to reports of a suspicious vehicle with two people asleep inside on Flame Leaf Drive in Bristol, Virginia. When a deputy tried to speak to the pair, the driver reportedly took off, prompting a pursuit.
The driver, identified as Justin Woodby, 34 of Bristol, Virginia, allegedly got out of the vehicle and ran away on foot after the pursuit ended at a dead-end road in Bristol, Virginia. The sheriff’s office reports a female who was inside the vehicle was detained without incident.
According to the WCSO, Woodby was close to High Point Elementary School at the time he ran away from the vehicle, which led to the school going on lockdown. Washington County Schools Superintendent Keith Perrigan told News Channel 11 earlier Tuesday that law enforcement was posted at the exterior of the school, which has since released students.
Woodby is described by police as a white man with blue eyes and brown hair. He is roughly six feet tall and weighs roughly 180 pounds. The WCSO reports he was last seen wearing a gray t-shirt and blue shorts.
Active warrants for Woodby’s arrest have been issued in Washington County, Virginia and Carter County, Tennessee.
Anyone who may have information on his whereabouts is asked to call 911.
PREVIOUS REPORTING
High Point Elementary in Washington County, Virginia is under lockdown Tuesday morning as police in the area search for a suspect, according to the school district’s superintendent.
Dr. Keith Perrigan, superintendent of Washington County Public Schools, told News Channel 11 that High Point Elementary went on lockdown around 8:30 a.m. out of an abundance of caution.
Perrigan said a suspect involved in an earlier police pursuit had reportedly exited a vehicle and fled in the general vicinity of the school, and law enforcement was contacted.
According to Perrigan, troopers with the Virginia State Police and deputies with the Washington County Virginia Sheriff’s Office swiftly responded to the school and were still stationed outside of the school as of 10:30 a.m.
Normal school operations are continuing inside the school, Perrigan said at 10:30 a.m., and the district has no reason to believe High Point Elementary is in any danger.
News Channel 11 has reached out to the sheriff’s office, Virginia State Police and Bristol Virginia Police Department for more information.
