Police fatally shoot parent who barricaded himself in classroom, authorities say
RIVERSIDE, Calif. -- A father shot by police after holding a 70-year-old teacher hostage for hours at his daughter's Southern California school has died, police said.
Riverside police Officer Ryan Railsback said late Tuesday that the man had been declared dead at a hospital. He did not release his name or say exactly when the man had died.
Relatives of the suspects told CBS2 Los Angeles the man's daughter is a first-grader at the school.
Around 11 a.m., police responded to a barricade situation at Castle View Elementary School in Riverside involving a parent who assaulted a school office staff member and forced his way into the classroom where he held first-grade teacher Linda Montgomery, authorities said.
Montgomery suffered no injuries but was taken to the hospital as a precaution.
"At this time Castle View Elementary has been placed on lockdown due to a disturbance inside of a classroom," school officials said earlier in the day in a statement. "All students are being evacuated to a safe location off-campus. Unfortunately, at this time we cannot release any students until the lockdown order has been lifted by RPD."
CBS Los Angeles reported that the Riverside Unified School District alerted parents of the incident with phone calls.
"Just getting the phone call is a very scary feeling," a tearful mother told CBS2. "I just wanted to know and make sure my daughter was OK."
The attacker reportedly first became agitated after arriving at the school and refusing to sign in at the front desk. He then punched a male staff member, who was treated for minor injuries, before entering Montgomery's classroom. It remains unclear whether the man was related to any of the students in her class.
