CALLAWAY COUNTY - The exterior lockdown at Hatton-McCredie Elementary was lifted Thursday afternoon around 2 p.m.

The Hatton-McCredie Elementary principal said he received a call from local authorities advising the school take lockdown precautions around 12:50 p.m.

Callaway County Sheriff's Office Lt. Clay Chism said the Missouri State Highway Patrol asked sheriff's deputies to help find a man on foot near Interstate 70 in northern Callaway County.

Highway patrol said it had arrested the man earlier for felony charges in Montgomery County, and an ambulance was transporting him to a Columbia hospital when the man left the ambulance while traveling through Callaway County near the school.

Chism said deputies decided to ask Hatton-McCredie to go into exterior lockdown because they didn't have specific details about the situation at the time.

Activities in the building went on as normal during the lockdown.

Chism said sheriff's deputies and patrol troopers searched the area but didn't find the man. They don't think he is in the area any more.