Police arrested three Arizona parents, shocking two of them with stun guns, as they tried to force their way into a school that police had locked down Friday after a gunman was seen trying to enter the campus, authorities said. The parents were arrested as they tried to reach their children to protect them, authorities said. Officers in the Phoenix suburb of El Mirage used a Taser to stop two of them as they tried to help a man whose own gun fell to the ground while he was being held, authorities said. The scene at Thompson Ranch Elementary School unfolded nearly three months after hundreds of police officers in the small Texas town of Uvalde failed to act for more than an hour as a gunman killed two teachers and 19 students. 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 a hospital with Taser wounds by officers who say they were trying to stop her from attacking them. By the time the standoff with the upset parents began, police had already confirmed there was no longer a threat, removed a suspicious package and planned to reunite the parents with the children, El Mirage police Lt. Jimmy Chavez said. But the school was still on lockdown, meaning no one would be allowed on campus, according to protocols established by police and the school district. That’s when the distraught parents demanded to be allowed into the school to find their children and began confronting police, authorities said. “Many parents continued their agitation, made several statements that they were going to come to campus to help protect their children,” Chavez said. “As a parent I understand this philosophy. However, there are procedures that law enforcement and the school followed.” Chavez said a man began to push past the officers, and as police arrested him, a man and woman who had also been confronted by officers came to his aid. Officers used a Taser to subdue them and they were also arrested. As the first man was being held, a gun fell to the ground. The armed parent will face a weapons charge — no guns are allowed in the school — and a disorderly conduct charge. The two parents who were stunned by the Taser will face unspecified charges. The woman was taken by ambulance to a hospital, Chavez said. None were immediately identified. The incident began at approximately 10:30 am. on 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 get in and was chased by staff before police from El Mirage and two other agencies arrived at the school, Chavez said. Officers searching the school to make sure it was safe found a suspicious package and called in a bomb squad, Chavez said, and moved some children to another part of the campus. Then parents began to arrive and confrontations with the officers began, with parents “pushing the officers who were trying to get onto the campus.” “Parents need to understand that when the school is on lockdown and law enforcement is on the scene, no one is going to be allowed on campus,” Chavez said. Chavez said school lockdown procedures between the school district and law enforcement “worked to a T.” Police later identified the man who had caused the lockdown. He was being examined late Friday by mental health professionals, and a police statement said charges were pending. Attempts to reach El Mirage police Saturday for additional information were not immediately successful.
