Schools lock down for threat

A killing in Connell resulted in a lockdown in Grand Coulee Dam School District schools Friday after police notified the district that the suspect could be in the local area.

Authorities in Connell were reportedly looking for 40-year-old Julio Cesar Hernandez after a 30-year-old hispanic man was shot to death Thursday night in Connell. Police “pinged” his cell phone, and believed he was in Electric City.

Grand Coulee Police were notified of the suspect’s possible presence. They notified the school district, said Superintendent Dennis Carlson.

He said all three schools were notified and went into a limited lockdown mode as a precaution. But the next ping authorities got from the cell phone came from Royal City, and Grand Coulee Police had already canvassed the local area for a 1988 black Mustang, the vehicle Hernandez was reportedly driving, and found nothing.

Carlson said at that point the lockdown was cancelled.

But, he noted, at least the episode can count as one of six required emergency exercises the district must practice in a year.

KEPR TV in Tri-Cities reported that the suspect was the ex-husband of the victim’s girlfriend, and that the Washington license plate number on his Mustang is 011UZQ.