Police Scour School for Murder Suspect

Twenty-six people, including six students, were evacuated from a South-Central Los Angeles middle school Monday as officers using search dogs combed the building and grounds in an unsuccessful search for a murder suspect, authorities said.

Officers were called to John Muir Middle School in the 5900 block of South Vermont Avenue after an FBI agent saw the suspect run into the building shortly after noon, said Los Angeles Police Sgt. Stephany Payne, a department spokeswoman.

The suspect, Allan Ray Lee, 30, is wanted in connection with an Aug. 5 murder in the Seattle area, Payne said.

Lee was using a public telephone near the school when he spotted the agent and fled into the school, Payne said.

Twenty officers and an FBI agent went room by room through the building, scouring the area for more than two hours until the search was called off at 2:30 p.m., police said.

Classes were not in session at the school where 1,800 students are enrolled in grades six through eight, a Los Angeles Unified School District spokesman said. Parents, teachers and a few construction workers were also among those evacuated, police said. The students were taken to a nearby public library until relatives could pick them up.

Authorities described Lee as 6 feet, 2 inches tall and 160 pounds with a short Jheri curl hair style.