Active shooter situation in Rancho El Dorado

Pima Butte Elementary School and a Rancho El Dorado neighborhood are on lockdown for an active shooter barricaded inside a house in the 41000 block of Sunland Drive, about a quarter mile east of the school. No one has been injured in the incident.

“We’ve got a guy with a gun,” said Maricopa Police spokesman Sgt. Hal Koozer. “He’s holed up in a house. He was shooting rounds off from a second story window. We got on scene and there were three or four gunshots after we got here. Neighbors were calling saying he was going crazy, had a gun and threw a boulder through the back window of a neighbor’s SUV.”

As of 11:45 a.m., there are three armored SWAT vehicles on scene.

Koozer said MPD identified the suspect and believes he is alone in the house. Koozer declined to comment on whether the suspect has a criminal record. Both MPD and Pinal County Sheriff’s Department SWAT team are on the scene, as part of the 20-30 officers responding to the incident.

“We do a good job, we have very few deaths on these types of things,” Koozer said. “We’ve got a professional team that does a great job of talking them down, securing them and getting them the help that they need. It’s obviously a mental health issue of some sort. Whether it was drug induced we don’t know, but he’s certainly not acting rationally.”

Koozer added MPD has negotiators on the scene attempting to communicate with the suspect, but he did not know whether they had been able to connect.

In a letter to Pima Butte parents, Principal Elizabeth Allison said:

“This morning, Pima Butte Elementary School was advised by the Maricopa Police Department to place the school in lockdown due to a police situation in the neighborhood. Staff is monitoring the arrival of students who walk to school and are escorting them into the building. Students who arrive by parent drop-off are being asked to remain with their parents until the lockdown is over.

“As always, our first priority is student safety, and thank you for your patience and cooperation while we respond to this neighborhood situation.”