Snoqualmie Valley School District officials were keeping students from the Wilderness Rim neighborhood in North Bend on school grounds at Opstad Elementary, Twin Falls Middle School, Mount Si High School and the freshman campus, and Two Rivers School Tuesday afternoon, while the King County Sheriff’s Department addressed a hostage situation in a home in that neighborhood.

The incident began around 9:30 a.m. when deputies received a call about a disturbance. A caller reported seeing a man with a gun in a home in the area of 424nd Avenue Southwest and Southeast 167th Street.

A suspect was barricaded inside a home with a woman, who appears to be a hostage. . Deputies with the King County Sheriff’s office have not seen the suspect with a gun, but are treating the situation as if he did, said B.J. Myers, Sheriff department spokesperson.

Snoqualmie Police were initially called as backup for the Sheriff’s deputies. They provided backup until sufficient Sheriff’s personnel arrived.

As of 2 p.m., Myers said the home is secured and officers have been in touch with the people in the home.

“They are in some kind of distress and we’re trying to calm them down and get them out of the house,” Myers stated over the phone.

The school district will release students after contacting the families and making other arrangements for their pickup.