SAN JOSE, Calif. (KRON) — A man armed with a knife who officers responded to on the campus of a San Jose elementary school has been taken into custody, the San Jose Police Department confirmed.
Earlier, law enforcement units had responded to a weapons call at Empire Gardens Elementary School involving a male suspect who was armed, according to a tweet from the San Jose Police Department. The school was placed under shelter in place orders and officers were able to contain the suspect.
The suspect will be booked into jail for trespassing on school grounds, delaying arrest, brandishing a knife, and criminal threats.
Preliminary information indicated the suspect was armed with a knife. San Jose Police Department PIO Christian Camarillo described the blade as being between 12 inches and two feet in length. Law enforcement described the suspect as a “despondent male.”
Camarillo said the suspect was likely suffering some kind of mental health issue, was high on narcotics, or possibly both. The suspect was contained in a dumpster enclosure where he would periodically climb up and down off of a fence. County mental health clinicians were deployed along with officers and the suspect was eventually taken into custody without incident.
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“Minutes ago the suspect was taken into custody,” Camarillo confirmed. “He appeared to come off the fence and officers were able to take him into custody. None of the students are in danger and we will be clearing the scene shortly.”
Camarillo said they would be doing an assessment on the suspect to “see what kind of help he needs.”