Mentally-ill man causes lockdown, parent pick-up of walkers at Tiffany Park Elementary School

October 27, 2005 - Tiffany Park Elementary School went to a low-level lockdown yesterday after receiving a call about a mentally-ill man who was thought to be headed to the school.

The man, a current client in a Tacoma outpatient mental heath-care facility, lived in apartments near Tiffany Park in 1995 and claimed to be the father of children at the school. He is not a parent of any children at schools here in Renton. He has been treated for delusion and other mental health conditions, and has been known to become abrasive and aggressive.

Early in the day, the man told his apartment manager that he was catching a bus to Renton to visit Tiffany Park and “check on his kids.”

The apartment manager called the man’s mental health care provider and told them of the man’s intentions. The mental health organization called Tiffany Park to warn them that the man might be headed their way.

Tiffany Park Principal Irene Olson locked the schools parameter doors and called 9-1-1 and district security.

Parents were called and asked to come to the school at the end of the half-day schedule and pick-up their children. A majority of students at the school are walkers.

Students were moved into the school’s gym and grouped by grade level. Parents were very considerate and orderly filed in to the gym by grade level to pick up their student.

The man was never seen in the neighborhood near Tiffany Park. His apartment manager reported that he was spotted at about 3 p.m. in his apartment complex in Tacoma.

Because the man made no specific threat to school staff or students, police have no reason to question him about today’s events.

Tiffany Park resumes a normal school day today, October 27.