A former MTHS student trespassed on school grounds on Feb. 6 at approximately 12:15 p.m. and took food from the lunch room, according to school officials and police reports.

According to the kitchen staff, a person came into the kitchen and “helped themselves” to some school food and ate on the steps leading into the HUB by the kitchen area.

Principal Greg Schwab described him as a caucasian male with average build who looked to be in his early 20s, and said he was wearing a hoodie during the encounter.

Schwab was called by kitchen staff, began to approach the man and asked him to come up to the office, but the man refused and left through the doors by the counseling office.

Schwab then followed him and said it appeared that the suspect had been throwing something into the bushes by the front door, but Schwab was unable to identify what it was. Schwab then made a radio call to main office staff and directed them to call the police.

“As soon as I walked up to him, he ran out the door and across the street,” Schwab said. “And that’s when I pursued him because I wanted to know what he was doing and why he was here.”

Schwab pursued the suspect across the street to 219th St., where Mountlake Terrace Police Department (MLTPD) officers met up with him and educational assistant Jerry Myers, who had driven his car to the location of the suspect.

According to MLTPD Commander Doug Hansen, a sergeant and two officers allegedly found the suspect in some bushes where he had been hiding.

“This was during school, during about fifth period,” Schwab said. “This all happened when everyone was in class.”

According to Schwab, the suspect had attended MTHS in 2009 as a sophomore before he transferred to Scriber Lake High School in Edmonds.

The suspect was accused of criminal trespassing at the building. Hansen said that the MLTPD transferred the suspect to Kirkland Police Department in King County, where he was put into custody.

Schwab also said police found additional warrants from King County against the suspect, which the suspect was then charged with.

According to Hansen, MTHS did not press legal charges.