LAGO VISTA, Texas -- Schools leaders put Lago Vista Intermediate School and Lago Vista Middle School on lockout after a student's father "became unruly" while on campus Tuesday, administrators and police said.
According to an arrest affidavit, police arrested the man, identified as Winston Dale Cave, 40, after he shared a Youtube live video of himself making threatening statements at the school.
Police said the video shows Cave in a school lobby ranting about how the school would not allow him to take his children outside without signing them out. Cave then allegedly made threatening statements about his wife and how he hasn't been able to see his kids because of her. Police said Cave goes on to say that he started using profanity toward the school staff and stated the school was on lockdown because of him. In a second video, Cave can be heard saying that he is high and that he attempted to stop at a gun store. He also expressed that he wanted to train his "service dog" to attack police officers if they ever confronted him, the affidavit said.
Police said they contacted Cave's wife to make sure she was safe. According to the affidavit, after learning of the video, the wife rushed to the school and expressed that she feared for her life and the lives of their children. According to police, the wife said Cave has threatened to kill her and their children. She told police his actions were "very scary and disturbing."
A spokesperson for Lago Vista ISD reported that police escorted Cave off of the property and said he was not able to move around the campus. Later during dismissal hours, officials put the intermediate school on a second lockout after a vehicle drove by resembling the one involved in the earlier incident. Officials determined later that the vehicle was unrelated to the initial incident and classes followed regular dismissal schedules.
On Wednesday, the district had additional police presence during drop-off in the morning at the elementary, intermediate and middle school campuses as a precautionary measure.
Cave is charged with making a terroristic threat and violence of an emergency protective order, which are both Class A misdemeanors. According to online records, Cave is in police custody as of Thursday, March 8.
School leaders released the following letter to parents and guardians explaining the situation:
The safety and security of our students and staff members are a top priority for Lago Vista ISD. Ensuring a safe and secure learning environment requires a partnership between students, parents, campus and district staff, as well as law enforcement.
To keep parents informed, I am sharing the following information about an incident at our intermediate and middle school campuses from today.
At approximately 1:10 pm this afternoon, a visitor at Lago Vista Middle School became unruly and local law enforcement was called. As a precaution, both Lago Vista Middle School and Lago Vista Intermediate School were placed in a lockout. During a lockout, the perimeter of the building is secured due to a potential hazard outside and, although situational awareness is increased, normal operations resume inside the building. After receiving the “all clear” from Lago Vista Police Department, both campuses resumed normal operations approximately 35 minutes later.
Then, at approximately 2:45 pm this afternoon, the LVIS campus briefly went into a second lockout. As the campus prepared for dismissal, an unidentified vehicle that closely resembled the vehicle related to the earlier situation today was noticed in the parking lot. The campus promptly went into a lockout until the vehicle could be identified. Local law enforcement responded. Fortunately, the vehicle was determined not to be related to the first incident. Once this was confirmed, the campus quickly resumed our regular dismissal procedures.
We plan to have a police presence during drop-off on Wednesday morning at the elementary, intermediate and middle school campuses, as a precautionary measure.
I personally want to commend our students, campus staff members, and local law enforcement for their responsiveness today. Our processes today showed our preparedness for these types of events. Part of this preparedness stems from our outstanding relationship with local law enforcement and their strong support of our safety procedure development and annual training for staff. This training focuses on how a campus responds to a variety of unforeseen events such as fires, lockdowns, evacuations and campus emergencies by conducting a variety of drills throughout the year. In addition to the situational awareness of our staff members, our District also continues to utilize resources, like StayALERT, to identify potential threats to school safety.
These tools for preparation make us stronger in our efforts to keep students and staff safe, but we also know that it takes the work of our students, parents and community sharing any information they hear that may pose a threat to school safety with campus staff. Together, we can help build as many barriers as possible for experiencing any situation that impacts school safety.
We want to assure you that District and campus administration, faculty and staff are committed to maintaining a school environment that is conducive to teaching and learning. We pledge to continue our vigilance in keeping Lago Vista ISD schools safe for all.
