Three children were injured Monday when a car drove onto a sidewalk near an elementary school in Santa Ana and police found incendiary devices inside, police said.
It started when police say 26-year-old Jason Guzman came to Taft Elementary Monday morning to use the bathroom and was turned away. School officials described him as suspicious and say he was carrying a backpack.
Teachers and others on campus kept asking him to leave since he got back into his car in the parking lot. They knew he was not a parent or related to anyone working at the school.
He drove away but he didn’t go far.
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Surveillance video shows him behind the wheel of a red car that appears to slam on its brakes. Witnesses say he came up and on the sidewalk, striking a 10-year-old boy and two girls, 11 and 7.
Isaias Vazquez came outside of his home when he heard the collision.
"And as I was walking towards them I saw an individual walking towards the kids and us with a knife in his hand," he said.
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was hoping he didn’t closer disappeared into the park.
Santa Ana police Sgt. Maria Lopez said police we’re trying to figure out why he was at the school.
Vasquez says he installed cameras after cars kept driving by his home hitting cars on his street and taking off. This time he captured something he hoped never to see.
Confusing moments followed when police found three incendiary devices inside Guzman's car after he was taken into custody.
That prompted Taft to go on lock out. They moved the students to a field as the Orange County bomb squad searched for any more devices that might have been left on campus. They found none and school resumed about 11 a.m.
Santa Ana Unified sent an email home to parents which says that it was a trespasser who entered the school. He was removed by school staff and taken into custody.
All three children were transported to a hospital are in stable condition.
Guzman was also recovering from a stab wound at a hospital.
