3 arrested, schools locked down during SWAT action

A SWAT action during a standoff in a section of old Maricopa led to arrests Tuesday afternoon.

Maricopa Police Department blocked off roads while the Department of Public Safety broke up an apparent theft operation, and local schools went into a teaching lockdown as a precaution.

According to DPS spokesman Bart Graves, the DPS Vehicle Theft Task Force was contacted by MPD to help with a stolen mobile construction compressor. MPD stopped a truck towing away the compressor from a residence in that area, he said.

The driver was detained, but two other suspects who had been in the yard fled into the house and refused to come out, according to the report.

While MPD blocked roads leading into the neighborhood, including Maricopa-Casa Grande Highway and Pershing Avenue, VTTF detectives set up a perimeter at 12:30 p.m.

According to Maricopa Unified School District Superintendent Steve Chestnut, Butterfield Elementary was in lockdown from 12:30 to 12:55 p.m. because of police activity in the vicinity. Then again at 2 p.m. MPD advised Butterfield and Saddleback elementary schools to go into lockdown for about half an hour, he said.

Traffic was rerouted through the Senita neighborhood between MCG Highway and Honeycutt. MUSD also blocked traffic trying to shortcut through its transportation department lot. Several residents had to park outside the perimeter and walk home.