SAN ANTONIO — An armed man on Roosevelt Elementary grounds was confronted and taken into custody after a student's mother reported him to authorities Thursday afternoon, Edgewood ISD officials tell KENS 5.
According to an Edgewood ISD statement, district police officers arrived "in less than 40 seconds" to apprehend the unidentified suspect shortly before 3 p.m. A spokeswoman with the district told KENS 5 the man had a loaded shotgun.
"Students and staff were in no danger," the district's statement reads, adding that the quick police response negated the need for a campus lockdown. "(The) situation could have been drastic had she not intervened."
The suspect is expected to face multiple charges in the incident.
The district praised the vigilance and quick actions of the woman, Linda Marie Silva, in reporting the suspicious individual.
"He was staring at the school, he was so fixated," Silva said. "I felt like I was put to the test to help the kids."
One of them was her own; she's the mother of a Roosevelt Elementary third grader.
While waiting in the pickup line, she noticed the man standing awkwardly – as if leaning on something – in an empty field near the back of the school. She said he was waring a black shirt, black shorts and a camo jacket.
"I was like, 'I don't have a good feeling about this,'" said Silva, who has a concealed-carry license and had her own firearm at the time.
She said that, from where he was standing, the man had a clear path toward the school playground—and looked as if he was about to take off running toward the school.
That's when she called police and immediately moved her truck near the back gate, blocking the man from getting further onto campus.
With her 15-year-old daughter in the car with her, Silva said she was armed and ready to take the man down if he made one more move toward Roosevelt.
“I was ready," Silva told KENS 5. "I said, ‘Either we’re gonna go down together or one of us is gonna go down,’ because I wasn’t going to let him shoot towards the school.”
Silva told KENS that that when she went to turn in her statement to district police, the chief showed her the gun, ammo and crystal meth that were confiscated from the suspect.
This is a developing story and will be updated with further details.
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