By Harry Harris
Oakland Tribune
OAKLAND, Calif. — Police arrested five men Tuesday suspected in a series of home invasion robberies after tracking a car used in a previous robbery to an East Oakland home in the Melrose district.
The police operation at the house in the 5100 block of Melrose Avenue forced the lockdown of nearby Horace Mann Elementary School. It was the third school to lock down students because of police activity in the first two days of the new Oakland Unified School District school year.
Police Capt. Ersie Joyner declined to say exactly where the robberies occurred, but said multiple residents had been robbed at gunpoint in their homes. At least three home robberies and one armed robbery have been reported.
Early on, two armed men who had been in the house in the 5000 block of Melrose obeyed police commands to come outside and were arrested.
Two others remained holed up in the home for several hours before they were arrested.
A fifth man was caught hours later after police learned he had gotten himself stuck in the building’s attic. He was freed with the use of power tools and then taken into custody, police said.
Horace Mann Elementary, on the corner of Congress and Ygnacio avenues, went into lockdown around 9 a.m., said Troy Flint, a school district spokesman. Students were dismissed about 2:45 p.m. and parents who had heard about the lockdown were waiting outside, he said. Some of them were moved to tears as they tried to figure out when they would be able to get their children home.
Sgt. Chris Bolton said police didn’t believe the school was under any direct threat, but wanted to ensure the entire area was completely safe before letting the children outside.
On Monday, students at Castlemont High and East Oakland PRIDE Elementary School spent hours in lockdown during an East Oakland manhunt to track down three of four suspects in an armed carjacking.
Copyright 2011 Contra Costa Newspapers