BOULDER, Colo. -- A high school in Boulder went into lockout Tuesday morning after someone mistook a power washer for a rifle, according to police.
Boulder Preparatory High School went into lockout mode, which means school goes on as usual but all exterior doors are locked and nobody is allowed into or out of the building, as a precaution after someone reported seeing a man with what appeared to be a rifle in the parking lot of a Subway restaurant nearby.
Boulder County Day School and Miss Catherine's Creative Learning Center also went into lockout.
Boulder police searched the area and determined that the man had actually been carrying a power washer.
Police have determined that the report of a man with an A.R. near a school in Gunbarrel earlier this morning was actually a man with a power washer. Police will continue to maintain an extra presence in the area.
— Boulder Police Dept. (@boulderpolice) February 27, 2018
The lockout at Boulder Prep was lifted and school operations returned to normal.
Police said they planned to keep extra officers in the area as a precaution.
