The Philomath School District’s five in-town campuses went into “secure” status Monday afternoon as law enforcement officers from three agencies searched for two men suspected in a series of vehicle break-ins across Linn and Benton counties.
The Benton County Sheriff’s Office is now asking for help identifying a rideshare driver who may have picked up the suspects in downtown Philomath. As of Wednesday afternoon, they remained at large. The driver is not considered a suspect but may have information that could help the investigation, according to the Sheriff’s Office.
According to Philomath Police Chief Dave Gurski, the incident began when a Benton County deputy attempted to stop a vehicle, leading to a pursuit that was later discontinued. Officers then located the vehicle parked on the side of the road in the Neabeack Hill area.
“When we attempted to make contact with the vehicle, the driver fled on foot to the west off of Neabeack Hill,” Gurski said. “So our concern was that there was potentially some risk of them getting onto one of the campuses — the middle school, the primary school or the high school.”
Gurski said officers from Philomath, Benton County and Corvallis took part in the search, which included a police dog and, at one point, a drone.
Gurski emphasized that the incident did not involve a violent crime.
The school district received a call from the Philomath Police Department at 1:10 p.m., according to an email Superintendent Susan Halliday sent to parents and staff at 1:51 p.m.
Halliday said police initially asked the district to secure Philomath High School and Philomath Middle School, which happened immediately. As she exchanged texts with administrators, it quickly became clear that the district should extend the secure status to all five of its schools in town.
“It became evident really fast that because we’re so close together, it just makes sense for us to secure all the schools when we need to, and then start pulling some out as we can,” Halliday said.
The district’s response protocols are based on those of the “I Love U Guys” Foundation. Under secure status, everyone is brought inside, exterior doors are locked and signs are posted to alert anyone trying to enter. Classes and other activities continue as normal inside the buildings.
“There’s still instruction going on,” Halliday said. “Students may not get recess in the afternoon, but they’re continuing as normal within the school.”
That differs from a full lockdown, she said, in which students are moved out of hallways and into classrooms with the lights off and kept out of sight.
Halliday said Monday’s response went smoothly. When facilities director Joey DiGiovannangelo got her text, his crew was working outside. They watched to make sure all the students outdoors got into their schools, then moved into the district shop to continue working. DiGiovannangelo described the campuses as a ghost town, she said.
“Everybody did what they needed to do and got where they needed to be, so the effectiveness of implementation was really good,” Halliday said.
Halliday said she relied on police to tell her when she could share information with families.
“Our first commitment is to keep students and staff safe, and that comes before any of the communication, which upsets some people,” she said. “There are times we just can’t let folks know about certain things as they’re happening. As a parent, I understand that’s difficult.”
As the end of the school day approached, deciding when to lift the secure status became a challenge, both Halliday and Gurski said.
“It was tricky, because we were trying to give her the green light to release kids” when law enforcement didn’t have the suspects in custody, Gurski said. “We ended up having to get officers at the schools, so it divided our resources a little bit.”
Halliday said she got a phone call about 2:15 p.m., with school scheduled to let out at 2:45 p.m. Police wanted officers in place around the schools before the secure status was lifted, and the final go-ahead didn’t come until about 2:40 or 2:42 p.m.
Halliday said she started sending the all-clear message to families at 2:42 p.m. but stepped away before clicking the final confirmation, so it didn’t go out until just before 3 p.m. The message said bus service and parent pickup would proceed as usual and that families may notice more of a police presence around the middle and high schools as an added precaution.
“So it didn’t get to families on time,” Halliday said. “But administrators knew, school staff knew, and there was a noticeable police presence at a couple of our schools, so any parents coming up would know what we had done.”
Halliday debriefed with Gurski on Tuesday morning. One result, Halliday said, is that the district will now place all its in-town schools in secure status at once whenever one or two schools need it.
“For our safety, and with us being close together, it just made good sense,” she said.
The debrief also raised questions about what would happen if a secure status extended past the end of the school day. Halliday said that would affect after-school sports practices, classroom aides and teachers who move between campuses, and Blodgett students who ride a bus into town.
“It really gave us good fodder,” Halliday said. “We’ve got to have the communication of what happens if this extends.”
She said a secure status allows more flexibility than a lockdown, so the district could potentially release students directly to parents through coordinated handoffs. During a lockdown, nobody would be allowed in or out, even after school ends.
Halliday said she has previously worked with the Philomath Fire and Rescue public information officer to review the wording of messages about larger issues, and she sees that as a resource in future situations.
“The silver lining was that it was, in the end, relatively low-key in terms of threat potential for our students,” Halliday said. “During the course of the school day, we feel like our staff did a really beautiful job with our students.”
According to a notice posted by the Benton County Sheriff’s Office on social media, the two suspects eluded deputies in Philomath after hiding out, then were picked up at about 1:08 p.m. in the 1500 block of Applegate Street by what is believed to be an Uber or Lyft driver. The vehicle is described as a white 2025 or 2026 Subaru Forester.
A BCSO spokesperson said Wednesday that the two male suspects have not been identified. No further information was immediately available, including the nature of the alleged theft or details about the series of break-ins.
Anyone with information, including the rideshare driver, is asked to contact the Sheriff’s Office at 541-753-8477 or BentonCoSheriff@bentoncountyor.gov.
