Lockdown lifted at Exeter schools after suspect taken into custody

EXETER, Calif. (KFSN) -- There was a tense situation Friday afternoon in Exeter. Four schools were put on lockdown and Highway 65 was closed near Rocky Hill Drive while police tracked a potentially dangerous suspect.

"We have it set up with the schools anytime there is anything going on with the schools, we call the schools; that's one of the first things we do," said Celis Rabena with the Exeter Police Department.

Around 2:30 Friday afternoon, police say they got a call about a man with a gun near a school bus outside Exeter Union High School.

"That was the initial call, and when we got on scene we found out more that the school bus was not involved other than the female running onto the bus," said Rabena.

It all started inside an apartment complex about a block from campus. Police say 58-year-old Robert Kajanoff and his 60-year-old wife, Terry, got into an argument, and when she spotted a gun inside the residence she grabbed it and ran outside.

"The male ran outside with her and they got into a physical out in the front yard," said Rabena. "She threw the gun, he ran for the gun, picked it up and ran back into the house. That's when the officers got on scene."

And when he didn't respond to their repeated calls to come out, the officers then surrounded the apartment with their guns drawn and immediately alerted the school district to put all four schools on lockdown.

"I had one of the school administrators with me, and I was briefing him, and he was briefing the superintendent, and they were making decisions on what they were going to do from there," said Rabena.

That's when officers moved in to take Kajanoff into custody.

It took police about an hour and a half to convince him to come out of the apartment complex. He was then taken into custody to undergo a mental health evaluation.

The lockdown was lifted just before 4 p.m., and Highway 65 reopened a short time later.

Police don't know whether Kajanoff will face any charges, but parents Action News talked with were relieved no one was hurt.