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School lockdowns lifted after drug suspect captured

BURKE COUNTY, N.C. — Two Burke County elementary schools were swarmed by law enforcement personnel after a nearby drug raid turned into a three-hour manhunt for one of the suspects on Thursday morning.
 
Deputies said the two suspects jumped out of a window of the house and one of them ran toward Icard Elementary School.

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Icard Elementary and Hildebrand Elemenatry were locked down as officers searched for the suspect.

Officials at Icard Elementary and Hildebrand Elementary placed the schools on a “soft” lockdown around 10 a.m. as a precaution after Shue Long Vang ran from deputies at a nearby home.

Parents at the schools said they were happy to see the extra security. 
 
"I don't think you can take chances.  I think what they're doing is the right precautions to be safe," Kurt Parker, a father of a student, said.

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"I believe the kids are safe. A little surprising and alarming, yes," Amy Elliott, a mother of a student, said.

Members of the Burke County narcotics task force had gone to the residence near the elementary school to search for drugs.

After the two men jumped out the window, deputies arrested Nhia Vue, but Vang escaped, prompting the lockdown and manhunt near the school. 
 
Deputies spotted Vang hours later crossing Interstate 40 near the campus of East Burke High School and arrested him around 12:30 p.m..
 
Deputies said both men violated their probation for a previous drug arrest.   
 
Inside the home deputies found heroin along with a gun, which could lead to additional charges in the case.

"We do what we do.  We catch folks," Isaac Propst, with the Burke County Sheriff’s Office, said.

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