A man who appears armed approaches a school campus. The police arrive. Families are afraid to enter the school after it is locked down.
As in the March events in Uvalde Texas, the sequence in Arizona during Friday’s scare led to heated exchanges between relatives and parents of schoolchildren and the authorities. The confrontation took a new turn after that. According to police, the incident ended with three people being arrested. Two of them were stun-gunned when they tried to enter Thompson Ranch Elementary school in El Mirage.
The man responsible for the lockdown was taken into prison. Teachers and children were not hurt. The clash between parents in the wake Uvalde is a disturbing glimpse of the rage that can lead to school crises becoming more chaotic.
Arizona authorities reported that officers arrived on the spot after someone reported that a man had reported seeing a handgun and was trying access to the school. The man fled in a direction unknown. Officers sought to make sure there was no longer a threat on the grounds, during which time they discovered a suspicious package that the police said was “ultimately examined by explosives technicians and rendered safe.”
The police stated that one person who was stopped from entering the school was involved in an altercation. This occurred as relatives and parents began to arrive. Two more people joined the fray, prompting officers firing their stun guns to take all three into custody. One of them was taken to the hospital and injured.
Sunday’s identity of the suspect in lockdown was not disclosed. The police stated that he was currently being evaluated by mental health professionals and that criminal charges were still pending. On Sunday, it was not possible to identify the people involved in the altercation.
A video of the confrontation was posted to social media. It shows relatives and parents pushing officers against their will. A clattering sound can also be heard at one point. Seconds later, the video shows a handgun lying on the ground close to one of their parents. As the police fire stun guns, the crowd scatters and they begin making arrests. As one man is handcuffed and moaning in pain, a streak of blood can still be seen on the pavement.
Darlene Gonzales, who was with her daughter at the school, told KPNX-TV Arizona that after the lockdown threat had ended, she and her son tried to enter the school but were told they should go to the library. She said that the situation escalated at this point and she was thrown to her death. She said that her son owned the gun in the video.
Chief Paul Marzocca, El Mirage Police Department, stated that the people involved in the altercation had violated the law and were responsible for what happened.
“One doesn’t get to create this chaos at a school in an emergency situation and walk away,” he said.
Many people responded to Chief Marzocca’s statement with expressions of support for the police response. “Parents need to control themselves when officers are trying to work,” said Lori Jones, who said she lives about 30 minutes from El Mirage, in a comment on the Police Department’s Facebook page. “Set an example for your children!!”
But residents were able to sympathize with the parents’ frustration. One commenter said that the reaction was “a direct byproduct” of what had happened in Uvalde.
Ron Avi Astor, a professor from the University of California Los Angeles who studies school violence, stated that such clashes between parents, teachers, and public officials are a sign of a declining confidence in law enforcement’s ability to handle situations like the one in El Mirage.
“You can see these parents don’t trust the police because of everything they’ve seen or heard,” he said. He said that unless this perception changes, it is likely that more relatives or bystanders will continue trying to take matters into their own hands.
Dr. Astor explained that while the media often focuses on situations where the police’s response to a shooting is heavily criticised, such Uvalde, it does not necessarily reflect the way the police respond to these situations. He also suggested that the police should help to change that narrative.
“They have to be honest, they have to be trustworthy and they have to have the right approach around it,” he said of the police. “I think that’s how you build trust.”
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