Parents arrested entering school on lockdown

PHOENIX — Police arrested three Arizona parents, shocking two of them with stun guns, as they tried to force their way into a school that police locked down Friday after an armed man was seen trying to get on campus, authorities said.

The parents were arrested as they tried to get to their children to protect them, authorities said. Officers in the Phoenix suburb of El Mirage used a Taser to stop two of the parents as they tried to help a man whose own handgun fell to the ground while he was being taken into custody, authorities said.

The scene at Thompson Ranch Elementary School developed nearly three months after hundreds of law enforcement officers in the small Texas city 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 wasn’t breached and no one was hurt in the incident, other than a woman taken to a hospital with Taser injuries from officers who say they were trying to stop her from attacking them.

By the time the confrontations with the upset parents began, police had already confirmed that there was no longer a threat, removed a suspicious package and were planning to begin reuniting 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 the protocols police and the school district have set up. That’s when upset parents demanded to be allowed into the school so they could find their children and began confronting police, authorities said.

“Several parents continued with their agitation, made several statements that they were going to come on campus to help protect their kids,” Chavez said. “As a parent I understand that philosophy. However, there are procedures that law enforcement and the school were following.”