B40 School Off Lockdown; Kids Bused Out After Shooting

Children locked in the Branciforte Small Schools Campus during Tuesday's shooting were released about 7 p.m. to board busses waiting to reunite them with their families. 

Two Santa Cruz Metropolitan Transit District busses took the children and others locked inside the school after a shooter killed two officers and was himself killed about 3:30 p.m.

Waiting for the students was John Holman of Santa Cruz, whose 4 year old son was inside the building with John's sister and her children. 

Holman said he thought of the Newtown school shootings in Connecticut in December when he heard what was going on. 

"I was terrified," Holman said. “Since I already heard the school was on lockdown I felt a little better.”

Also outside the school was Mary Boles, whose 23 year old daughter was visiting a friend nearby and heard the gunshots from her friend's porch. 

The women "thought firecrackers were going off," Boles said. Police saw them and immediately ordered them into the house, Boles said. 

Officers took over Joe's Pizza and Subs on Branciforte Avenue as their command post. Branciforte Avenue remains closed between Water Street and Soquel Avenue.