Location: Morrison St. & Bardsley, Tulare

Incident Date: 9/13/19

Case Number: 19-11580

City: Tulare

Posted by: Media Relations

Tulare Schools Placed on Lockdown After Man Crashes Into Fence & Runs Across Campus

Just before 8 a.m. on 9/13/19, a TCSO Deputy saw a vehicle driving recklessly on Morrison Street, just south of Bardsley in Tulare. As the Deputy turned around, he saw the suspect’s vehicle crash into another moving vehicle and then drive off.

As the Deputy was trying to pull the suspect over, the suspect drove toward the 2700 Block of South Morrison Street and crashed into a fence, which separates the Alpine Vista Elementary School campus from a nearby neighborhood. The suspect jumped over the fence and ran onto the Alpine Vista campus.

At that same time, the Tulare Police Department began receiving 911 calls about a man with a gun on the Alpine Vista campus. Tulare Police immediately placed Alpine Vista, as well as Mission Oaks High School, on lockdown.

The suspect ran through the school grounds and into the nearby neighborhood. Both the TCSO and the TPD activated their drones, which alerted Deputies and Officers to where the suspect was hiding.

37-year-old Carlos Ruben Chavez was found hiding in the backyard of a home in the 2500 Block of East Kaiser Creek Avenue. The vehicle he was driving was also determined to be stolen out of the Porterville area. Chavez was arrested and faces charges of Hit and Run, Stolen Vehicle and Evading Officers.

Officers checked the schools and nearby neighborhoods and no gun was found.

Anyone with more information regarding this investigation is urged to contact the Tulare County Sheriff’s Office at 559-733-6218 or 1-800-808-0488 or anonymously at tcso@tipnow.com or by text or voicemail at 559-725-4194.