San Carlos: False report of shooting spurs school lockdown

Sheriff’s deputies say 911 calls were intended to distract them from suspicious woman

SAN CARLOS – A woman tried to distract sheriff’s deputies and get them to release another woman by calling 911 to report a shooting at a park in San Carlos on Tuesday, authorities said.

The report triggered a brief lockdown of Heather Elementary School at 2757 Melendy Drive.

The “convoluted series of events” kicked off about 12:05 p.m. when a resident reported two suspicious people at a property on the 400 block of Portofino Drive, the San Mateo County Sheriff’s Office said in a news release. Deputies arrived to find an unoccupied vehicle with stolen license plates and what appeared to be stolen property inside.

The sheriff’s office said deputies searched the area and found one of the suspicious people – identified as Lineti Takapuotuafi, 27, of Oakland – a few blocks away. While deputies spoke with Takapuotuafi, Antoinette Florez, 33, of Fresno, allegedly called 911 several times to report a shooting at Heather Park, which is adjacent to the school.

“Those calls were determined to be ‘distraction’ calls in an attempt to have deputies release Linetti Takapuotuafi,” the sheriff’s office said.

Deputies traced the calls to a residence on the 400 block of Portofino Drive and found Florez.

Both women were booked into the Maguire Correctional Facility in Redwood City on charges including possession of stolen property, possession of stolen identification, mail theft and conspiracy. Florez was also booked on a false report of an emergency charge and a no-bail warrant.

Anyone with information about the incident can call the sheriff’s office detective bureau at 650-599-1536. Those wishing to remain anonymous can call 800-547-2700.