Man arrested for making verbal threats against elementary school in Somerton

SOMERTON, Ariz. (KYMA) - The Somerton Police Department (SPD) says they arrested a man in connection to making verbal threats against an elementary school.

According to SPD, it happened at around 10:05 a.m. Tuesday at Tierra Del Sol Elementary School when a 32-year-old man entered the school's lobby and "made a verbal threat to injure children."

After he left the school, SPD says the school's staff "immediately initiated a lockdown as a precaution" and notified SPD.

SPD Chief of Police Araceli Juarez explains their process for school threats.

"As soon as the dispatcher's notified, there's a threat to one of our schools every available police officer that's on the road, every available police officer that is at the police station will respond," says Chief Juarez.

SPD says the suspect's vehicle was found and he was later arrested near U.S. Highway 95 and Avenue G at around 11:10 a.m., but at the time of his arrest, SPD says he was not armed.

The suspect was then booked into the Yuma County Detention Center and is being held on a bond of $200,000.

He is set to appear in court for the second time Friday morning.

Paul De Anda works near the school and he says it's sad somebody would threaten children.

"It's terrifying, right? I can't imagine being a parent and then finding out someone is willing to hurt children and actually vocalize that," De Anda said.

However, he is thankful that the Yuma County Sheriff's Office and SPD came together as soon as they got word of the threat.

"The fact that all the different stakeholders, all the different public safety entities always work well with each other, the fire departments, the police departments, all the law enforcement agencies, they're always willing to share and help out," De Anda says.

Meanwhile, Chief Juarez has understands parents can be scared for their kids, but asks to give them time so they can handle the situation and deliver the proper information.

"If we're getting a lot of phone calls to the station, or if we're getting parents showing up to the school upset, that diverts the units that we can send to locate the suspect," Juarez says.

SPD says, "All threats are taken seriously, especially when they involve the safety of children," and says the lockdown was lifted.