Andy Lopez protest leads to school campus lockdown

A protest over the fatal shooting of a 13-year-old boy by a Northern California sheriff’s deputy briefly led school officials to lockdown a high school campus.

The Press Democrat of Santa Rosa reports that about two dozen Santa Rosa middle school students marched onto the campus of a local high school on Tuesday morning to mark the six-month anniversary of Andy Lopez’s death.

Lopez was shot on Oct. 22 by Sonoma County Sheriff’s Deputy Erick Gelhaus. Police say Gelhaus mistook a toy rifle the boy was carrying for an AK-47 assault rifle. Prosecutors are now deciding whether to file charges against Gelhaus.

Tuesday’s protest was watched closely by school administrators and six police officers. Santa Rosa City Schools Superintendent Socorro Shiels said later the fact that the students came on campus raised safety concerns.