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A male parent has reportedly barricaded himself inside at Castle View Elementary School in Riverside, California, on Tuesday afternoon, according to authorities. The hostage situation unfolded around noon at Castle View Elementary School at 6201 Shaker Drive, according to Riverside Police Department spokesman Officer Ryan Railsback.
Update (10/31/17; 9:30 P.M.): Aerial footage shows a person being taken from the scene into an ambulance at about 6 P.M. (Pacific Time). The person was lying in a stretcher. The hostage situation broke out at 11:12 P.M. (PT) at Clear View Elementary School. According to reports, a parent became so upset that he forced himself into the school, and then barricaded himself inside a classroom. A teacher was already inside the classroom, and he prevented her from escaping. The victim was a 70-year-old woman named Linda Montgomery, who the school’s website lists as a first grade teacher.
Railsback confirms that this is a hostage situation. It isn’t clear whether the suspect is armed, or if the hostage is a student, another parent or an employee, according to Railsback’s statement.
The officer confirmed that a “barricaded hostage situation” broke out at the Castle View Elementary School in Riverside. The officer says that the suspect may be a “male parent,” and it isn’t clear whether or not the suspect has a weapon, but some type of spot was seen in the classroom where the hostage situation is unfolding.
According to Officer Railsback, the school has been evacuated or is in the process of being evacuated.
The Unified Riverside School District said that “the campus was under lockdown due to a disturbance inside of a classroom.”
A district spokesperson said that students are being evacuated off the campus and sent to the nearby Castle View Park down the street. The news station Sky5 captured aerial footage of students being led into waiting school buses. All the students have been accounted for. Their parents went to Castle View Park to pick them up.
Aerial footage from the scene also showed an armored vehicle, as well as hostage negotiators and SWAT officers, at the school.
A staff member was taken to a nearby hospital to treat non-serious injuries, after possibly getting into an altercation from the suspect.
Parents were reportedly called to the scene, and tried to convince the suspect release his hostage.
“So far, he has not been willing to come out,” said Railsback about the suspect.
Sixth-grader Michael Sandoval told KTLA that he initially thought the entire incident was a drill, as he heard an announcement over the intercom. Following the second announcement, teachers were asked to place their classrooms on lockdown. Mr. Sandoval reportedly saw police officers enter classrooms and evacuating the students from the school.
Michael Sandoval’s mother, Jennifer Sandoval, works at a different school. She heard the news of the hostage situation at Castle View Elementary School. She was initially scared. However, she was later relieved to be reunited with her son.
“It was scary,” said Jennifer Sandoval.
What is Castle View Elementary School?
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Castle View Elementary School is in Riverside, California. The exact address for this school is 6201 Shaker Drive, Riverside, CA.
