A 33-year-old man was taken in to police custody Tuesday after he opened fire in the Brighton neighborhood of Seattle forcing three schools to order students to "shelter in place."
The man also tried to lure children into a car during the shooting, according to the police. The incident happened around 3:15 p.m., the time school children leave for the day, at Rainier Avenue South and South Graham Street. He was arrested after he was identified by a witness. They also recovered a loaded handgun from him. Police said he was being booked into King County Jail for "numerous crimes", reports Reuters.
Officers responded to 911 calls. The first emergency call was made from Graham Elementary School where the administrators said a man was luring groups of children in front of a school employee, reports kirotv.com.
"All of them, the adult and the children did the right thing and ran back into the school," said Stacy Howard, of Seattle Public Schools. "Then the school immediately locked the doors and had students shelter in place," she said.
According to king5.com, the district will have extra security at the schools Wednesday. As a safety measure, the district locked the doors and told people to remain at Graham Hill and two other schools, MLK Elementary and Aki Kurose Middle School.
The parents in the neighborhood expressed shock and concern following the incident. Jacinta Pele, a parent said, "Knowing the kids, if it was a sunny day, they would be outside on the patio playing freely and I would be here thinking they were okay, so they won't be playing outside anymore." She added that they put their children in private schools in part because of the added safety.
