California man driving car with ‘incendiary device’ inside strikes three children outside elementary school after being kicked off school grounds just moments before
- An unidentified driver entered Taft Elementary School without permission in Santa Ana Monday morning
- He was escorted off campus by security while the school was on lockdown
- He left and drove off in his car before hitting the three students walking on a sidewalk near the school
- Three ‘incendiary devices’ were found in the suspect’s vehicle by police
Three children were struck by a driver near a school in California before an explosive device was found in the the suspect’s car near an elementary school.
The victims were believed to be walking on a sidewalk outside of Taft Elementary School when the driver charged at them with his vehicle at at around 8:30 a.m. on Monday, according to the Santa Ana Police Department. They were all rushed to a local hospital, where they are being treated for non-life threatening injuries.
Authorities said the suspect entered the school without permission, prompting a lockdown, before he was escorted off campus by security. He left and drove off in his car before driving into the students a few blocks away.
Police have not yet released the names, ages or gender of the victims. A ‘suspicious incendiary device’ was found in the driver’s vehicle by police when an investigation was conducted on site.
The Orange County Bomb Squad was then called on to the scene to further search the vehicle. Three more incendiary devices were eventually found, according to KTLA.
A red car, allegedly the suspect’s, was captured driving into three kids at 8:30 a.m. in Santa Ana, California, after the driver was escorted off a local elementary school’s campus
Pedestrians and nearby drivers rushed to render aid to the three victims after a loud breaking noise came from the suspect’s car before he accelerated onto the neighborhood’s sidewalk
Moments earlier before the crash, the suspect had entered Tafts Elementary School without permission, prompting the school to go into lockdown. Pictured: Santa Ana Police outside of Taft Elementary
Footage of the incident obtained by KTLA from a nearby house’s doorbell camera shows the moment a red sedan, appearing to be the driver’s, breaking before it accelerates onto the sidewalk of a residential area.
Pedestrians and drivers nearby quickly rush to the scene after the children were hit.
Witness Isaias Vazquez, whose doorbell camera captured the incident, told KTLA he was one of the people who ran to help the victims after the collision.
‘I see the kids on the ground, one’s in the middle of the street just laying down motionless,’ Vazquez said. ‘As I go to tend to them, parents are… just distraught, screaming, and I see an individual walking towards us with a knife in his hand so immediately I called the cops.’
Vazquez said the driver, whose identity has not yet been released, then tried to flee by walking back towards his car.
Police have not yet confirmed whether the driver was in possession of a knife.
He appeared to have a self-inflicted stab wound when police questioned him. It’s not clear if he has been arrested in relation to the incident. DailyMail.com has reached out to Santa Ana Police for comment.
Witness Isaias Vazquez, who lives near where the incident took place, told KTLA that he saw the suspect charge at the children with a knife before he called the cops. His doorbell camera recorded the entire attack
Taft Elementary School in Santa Ana, California, was placed into lockdown on Monday morning after an unidentified driver drove into the school with ‘incendiary devices’
The investigation remains ongoing and the driver’s intent has not yet been revealed. It is unclear as to whether he had any ties with the elementary school.
Authorities are continuing to figure out the type of incendiary devices that were allegedly in the vehicle and what were they were going to be used for.
Normalcy returned to the elementary school after the incident, as classes went back in session for the rest of the day.