Fall City schools went into lockdown for about an hour this afternoon, while King County Sheriff’s officers pursued suspects in a stolen car.

The deputies were following a stolen car from Renton into Fall City Monday morning, Jan. 8, when the occupants of the car appeared to notice they were being pursued. The subjects stopped the vehicle on SE 43rd Street and 327th Place in Fall City, and ran away on foot.

King County Seargent Jason Houck said the subjects were not armed, but the Sheriff’s office called to recommend the nearby schools, Fall City Elementary and Chief Kanim Middle School, go into a lockdown at about 12:30 p.m.

“One of the first precautions they take is to lock down the schools,” explained school district spokeswoman Carolyn Malcolm. During a lockdown, no one is allowed to enter or leave the school facilities, for student safety.

County officers, state patrol and the Guardian One helicopter all responded to Fall City. They set up a perimeter around the search area to locate the subjects from the car. It was unclear whether there had been two or three people in the vehicle.

Police apprehended one subject and took him into custody.

The lockdown ended at about 1:50 p.m., Malcolm said with all students safe. “Everyone was following procedures and things were going well during the lockdown,” she said.

Parents were alerted of the lockdown as soon as the school district had confirmed the information with police, Malcolm said, adding “It’s important when schools are in lockdown, that parents don’t try to go to the schools, because they’re not going to be let into the building.”

The Snoqualmie Valley School District sends out email notifications and automatically calls parents with a voice message in emergencies, too, Malcolm said, and those messages contain all the information the district is able to confirm.

Houck said the Sheriff’s office will investigate the stolen vehicle case and take fingerprints to identify the suspects who fled.