Coupeville Elementary School was locked down for approximately 30 minutes Wednesday morning.

At approximately 9:40 a.m., plumbers working on a new portable classroom heard what sounded like three gunshots from the woods located between the school and the substation.

School staff immediately locked down the school. Students were taken into classes, doors were locked and curtains drawn on windows, said Janet Fisher, business manager for the Coupeville School District. In the school’s office, several windows don’t have curtains. Fortunately staff has cardboard cutouts to cover the windows in case of such an emergency.

“Anybody looking inside would have a difficult time seeing anything inside the building,” Fisher said.

Coupeville Town Marshal Lenny Marlborough said officers searched the woods and fields between the school and Ebey Road. They even used a device, known as forward looking infrared radar, to see if there was any recent activity in the woods. Officers didn’t find anything unusual.

“We searched the woods and there was no indication anybody had been there,” Marlborough said adding that, if there were shots, it happened farther west of Ebey Road or it could have been a car backfiring.

He complimented the school’s staff on locking down the elementary school. They did it so well that he had to make a phone call to the school so somebody could let him in.