Cops arrested three Arizona parents as they tried to break into a school that police locked down after a gunman was seen trying to enter the campus, authorities announced.
The incident at Thompson Ranch Elementary School came about three months after hundreds of law enforcement officers in Uvalde, Texas waited 77 minutes even before trying to open the doors of the classrooms where a shooter killed 19 children.
The parents were arrested on Friday as they tried to get their children out of school to protect them, authorities said.
Police in El Mirage, a suburb of Phoenix, used a Taser to thwart two of them as they tried to help a man whose own handgun fell to the ground as he was placed in custody, authorities said.
No shots were fired at Thompson Ranch, the school was not breached and no one was injured except for a woman who was taken to hospital for treatment for Taser wounds inflicted by officers.
By the time the clashes with the upset parents began, police had already confirmed there was no longer a threat, removed a suspicious package and planned to start reuniting the parents with the children, the police lieutenant said. of El Mirage, Jimmy Chavez.
Yet the school was still closed, meaning no one was allowed on campus, per police and school district protocols.
This prompted angry parents to demand that they be allowed to go to school so they could be reunited with their children and began to clash with police, authorities said.
Chavez sympathized with the parents, but supported the police’s handling of the situation.
“Several parents continued their agitation, made multiple statements that they were coming to campus to help protect their children,” he said. “As a parent, I understand this philosophy. However, there are procedures that law enforcement and the school were following.
Chavez said a man started pushing to get past officers and as police pulled him over, a man and woman who had also clashed with officers came to his aid. Officers used a Taser to subdue them and they too were arrested. As the first man was arrested, a gun fell to the ground.
The armed parent will be slapped with a weapons charge because firearms are not permitted on school property, as well as disorderly conduct. The two parents who were knocked unconscious by the Taser will face unspecified charges. The woman was taken by ambulance to the hospital, Chavez said.
El Mirage in Maricopa County is home to approximately 35,800 residents, located approximately 15 miles from downtown Phoenix. Thompson Ranch Elementary is a K-8 school, which started the new school year Aug. 3, according to its website.
The incident began around 10:30 a.m. Friday, when school officials called police to report that a man, possibly armed with a gun, was trying to enter a locked school building. He was unable to enter and was chased away by staff before El Mirage police and two other agencies arrived at the school, Chavez said.
Officers scouring the school to discern if there was a security threat discovered a suspicious package, prompting them to call a bomb squad and move the children to different parts of campus, Chavez said.
Parents then began to show up and clashes with officers began.
Chavez explained, “Parents need to understand that when the school is closed and law enforcement is on the scene, no one will be allowed on campus.”
Chavez said the school’s lockdown procedures between the school district and law enforcement “worked like a charm.”
Police then located the man who had triggered the lockdown. He was being assessed Friday night by mental health professionals and a police statement said charges were pending.
With post wires