Fernley High locked down for two hours

Fernley High School went on lockdown Tuesday morning after residents reported seeing a man carrying a rifle in the area of the school.Between 8 and 9 a.m., the Lyon County Sheriff’s Office received a report of a young man in a residential area to the southwest of Fernley High School carrying a rifle. Deputies made contact with a second witness who reported the man was walking toward the high school. Deputies then notified officials at the high school, who ordered the school into lockdown, Lyon County Sheriff’s Office Captain Albert Torres said.The school went on lockdown around 9 a.m. and was operating near normal again around 11 a.m., after deputies determined the man with the rifle was legally target shooting and was not a threat, Torres said. “We took the ‘better safe than sorry’ approach,” he said.Parents were notified the school was going into lockdown through reverse 911 and were then notified the school was back in normal operation through the same process.“We just had some concerned citizens,” Torres said. “They did the right thing” by calling the police. “Things went very, very well.”