Boulder police now believe the report of a man with a rifle that led to lockouts at three Gunbarrel schools this morning was based on a sighting of a person using a pressure washer.

At about 8:20 a.m., a Boulder Prep High School administrator was walking to school when he saw a man behind some businesses at 5280 Spine Road throwing what he told police appeared to be a rifle down onto the ground before putting it into a red car, Boulder police spokeswoman Shannon Aulabaugh said.

Boulder Prep High School, Boulder Country Day School and Miss Catherine’s Creative Learning Center all were placed on lockout as a precaution.

But Aulabaugh said police were unable to find the person or the vehicle, and police lifted the lockouts at about 9 a.m.

She said police found several witnesses in the area who remember seeing a man having a pressure washer at the same time as the report of a person with the gun.

“At this point, we believe that that is what it was,” Aulabaugh said.

She said the department is keeping officers in the area as a precaution.

“We still have an extra presence in the area, but we do not believe that there is at all a threat,” Aulabaugh said.

Leslie Middleton with Cafe Blue in Gunbarrel told the Camera that the washers were there for her cafe, which is at the 5280 address, and were doing some routine cleaning of their cooking hoods this morning.

“We do it every three months, always around the same time because we can’t do it when we’re open,” she said.

Middleton said the pressure washers could be mistaken for a long gun, but she said this is the first time anything like this has happened.

“I feel really bad that somebody was frightened,” she said. “But in light of everything, I guess the upside is that people are aware. It’s better to be safe than sorry.”

Mitchell Byars: 303-473-1329, byarsm@dailycamera.com or twitter.com/mitchellbyars.