Shooting at Quality Inn in La Mesa prompts lockdown of Grossmont High

EL CAJON (CNS) – A masked thief wounded a clerk with a shotgun blast during a robbery at an El Cajon motel Tuesday afternoon before fleeing into the surrounding neighborhood, prompting an intensive police search and a lockdown at nearby Grossmont High School.

The armed bandit confronted the employee at the Quality Inn, 1250 El Cajon Blvd., and demanded cash about 1:30 p.m., according to police.

The worker responded by turning to flee, at which point the robber fired one round, Lt. Walt Miller said.

Medics took the victim to Sharp Memorial Hospital in San Diego for treatment of an apparently non-life-threatening wound to his lower back.

The assailant left the motel and ran off to the west, in the general direction of the high school. Campus administrators directed teachers to kept students secured inside their classrooms while officers combed the area for the assailant.

Shortly before 3 p.m., school officials began releasing the teens classroom-by-classroom, said Catherine Martin, spokeswoman for Grossmont Union High School District. Parents were directed to pick up their children at the Murray Drive campus.

The search for the robber was ongoing in the late afternoon. He was described as a roughly 6-foot-2-inch white man wearing a hooded sweat shirt. During the heist, he had some sort of mask covering his face, the lieutenant said.