NAMPA, Idaho — Columbia High School was on lockdown briefly before noon Thursday following a traffic stop by Idaho State Police in which one suspect wanted in a pursuit earlier in the morning had run away.
Idaho State Police said they stopped a fleeing stolen car and took three teens into custody. The fourth suspect, who ran, had not yet been located as of Thursday afternoon.
The pursuit began shortly at about 10:45 a.m., minutes after someone called ISP saying he saw his own car, a Honda Civic, drive past him on Interstate 84 in Canyon County. The man told ISP dispatchers he'd recently reported the car stolen out of Ada County.
A trooper spotted the car on eastbound I-84 near Meridian Road, activated his emergency lights, and tried to stop the driver, who continued driving.
The trooper followed the car and performed a PIT maneuver to stop the car and pushed it into a field as it approached a school zone on South Happy Valley Road, near Columbia High.
Once the car stopped, ISP said, all four people inside the stolen car ran.
The driver was identified as a 17-year-old boy from Nampa, who is now in custody of the Southwest Idaho Juvenile Detention Center in Caldwell, facing charges of possession of stolen property, eluding police, unlawful possession of a firearm, and resisting and obstructing an officer. Because he is a minor, his name is not being released.
Troopers also took two passengers into custody, and booked them into the Canyon County Jail.
Nikilas S. Knapp, 18, from Boise, and Yisrael Verduzco, 18, from Nampa, are both being held in jail on suspicion of possession of stolen property and resisting and obstructing an officer.
Despite a search for the fourth occupant, he has not yet been located.
Officers with the Meridian and Nampa police departments and deputies with the Ada County Sheriff's Office assisted ISP, which continues to investigate the case.
Nampa Police said the situation was not related to any kind of an incident on the Columbia High School campus.
Shortly before noon, Nampa School District public information officer Kathleen Tuck said the school was out of lockdown, but still in hall check, which means students could move around, but people were still not allowed to enter the building until ISP gave the "all-clear."
Tuck said when there is a police action near any of the district's schools, school officials work with police and institute lockdown protocol as a precaution. Tuck also said lockdown drills are regular practices, similar to fire drills and hall checks.
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