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As search for triple homicide suspect unfolded, schools stayed locked down for hours

It was tight security around Charles Bennett Elementary School all day Tuesday. The Sky Action News Jax helicopter captured the heavy police presence as it unfolded.

“You have the Green Cove Springs Police Department, you have the Clay County Sheriff’s Office, you have Florida Highway Patrol, the Jacksonville police department, helping out,” Action News Jax crime and safety expert Ken Jefferson said.

The heavy law enforcement presence happened because Murray Lancaster was in the area. Police say he shot and killed three people -- his ex-wife Erica Green, his ex-girlfriend Valorie Short and Short's father Buddy -- and then tried to come to the school to say goodbye to his kids. Green and Valorie Short each have two kids, who all go to Charles Bennett Elementary.

But school leaders warned police he was on his way and we’re told Lancaster never made it but instead hid in a house nearby.

Jefferson said all of the law officers at the scene were armed and ready.

“Police, when they’re doing their jobs, they want to make sure that everybody is safe,” Jefferson said.

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That’s why school leaders placed four schools, including Charles Bennett Elementary, on lockdown Tuesday, leaving dozens of parents, such as Christina Lopez, outside and worried.

“Just nervous, uptight, (with) something like this going on in our county,” Lopez said in describing how she felt.

Four hours later, police lifted the lockdown after Lancaster’s body was found, but the waiting parents were first given some instructions.

“If your children are a walker and we have all these cars out here, they’re not going to let your children walk home,” an officer told parents.

Parents said they didn’t understand the tough instructions, but Jefferson said officers were doing their job to make sure everyone was safe.

“I think the real heroes are the ones at the school that prevented him from seeing his children,” Jefferson said.

Police officers said although parents may feel the security measures were extreme, those actions were necessary.