A Riverside elementary school was evacuated Tuesday when an upset parent assaulted a staff member then barricaded himself in a classroom while holding a first-grade teacher hostage.
Castle View Elementary School, located on Shaker Drive near Century Avenue in the Canyon Crest area of the city, was placed on lockdown after the roughly 11:15 a.m. assault.
According to reports from the scene, the parent entered the campus and confronted a school staff member, who suffered unspecified injuries during the encounter. Riverside Fire Department officials said the victim was taken to Riverside Community Hospital for treatment. Witnesses at the scene said the injured person appeared to have a bloody or broken nose.
The assailant, whose identity had not been confirmed, barricaded himself in a classroom with a first-grade teacher, identified by her daughter as Linda Montgomery, who is in her 70s and has been teaching at the school for at least 20 years.
“She loves teaching — she’s still teaching,” Michelle Montgomery told ABC7. “She loves teaching.”
The campus was initially placed on lockdown, then evacuated.
Students and staff were moved to nearby Castle View Park for their safety. Riverside Unified School District officials said all students had been accounted for and were released to their parents at the park.
No information was available regarding the reasons why the man was enraged, nor was it clear whether he was armed.
People who claimed to be relatives of the suspect told ABC7 the man, who has a first-grade student at the school, had a “breakdown” of some type Tuesday morning. His family members said they took away the man’s car keys, but he still managed to make his way to the campus.
–City News Service