Man arrested after jumping fence by North Vermilion gymnasium

On Thursday, at 8:30 a.m. Vermilion Parish Sheriff’s School Resource Officer Deputy Brooks David responded to a male subject seen jumping a fence at the North Vermilion High School near the gym. An immediate lockdown of the school was initiated.
Several units with the Vermilion Parish Sheriff’s Office and the Maurice Police Department were dispatched. A perimeter was set up, and a search of the school grounds located a male subject identified as Colby Clayous Mitchell (D.O.B. 01/01/1985). Mitchell was located on the school campus parking lot. He was apprehended without incident.
Deputies on the scene determined that Mitchell had gone to the school to visit his wife to bring her some personal items. The wife was identified to be a contract worker doing cement work at the school for a private contractor. She is not an employee of the School Board.
An extended search of the school determined that no further threat was present. Therefore, the school and campus were determined to be safe and were taken off lockdown status, allowing students and faculty to resume regular activities.
Colby Clayous Mitchell, white male, (date of birth 01-01-1985) of 113 Pennington Drive, Duson, Louisiana 70529 was arrested on a felony charge of La. RS 14:40.6 and transported to the Vermilion Parish Jail, booked for unlawful disruption of the operation of a school.
Mitchell did not check into the front office at Nort Vermilion High or the middle school.

“Past and recent school shootings in the United States and other violent threats in local schools have caused new laws to be passed in the Louisiana Legislature and school districts continue to implement strict security measures. These measures are in place for good reason; TO PROTECT OUR CHILDREN, TEACHERS AND SCHOOL FACULTY. With this in mind, people wishing to enter the grounds of school campuses must do so in an orderly and expected fashion; through the school’s main and controlled entrance.
“Attempts to enter by other means will surely cause suspicion and fear, resulting in the school implementing their security protocols and law enforcement responding in a heightened alert mode to a potential harmful threat at the school. In review of this event, it appears that the system worked where the school faculty and law enforcement response were successful in working together. I commend the school and law enforcement’s response to this event. Training for this threat is nothing new at the Vermilion Parish Sheriff’s Office. Your Sheriff’s Office has been actively training within our schools for these types of threats for well over a decade, and we will continue this valuable partnership,” said Langlinais.