Driver in California arrested after striking three children, found carrying ‘incendiary device’

Three children were struck by a car near an elementary school in California Monday afternoon, with police discovering an explosive device in the suspect’s car moments after he was apprehended.

The victims were believed to be walking on a sidewalk outside of Taft Elementary School when the driver, Jason Guzman, 26, of Valencia, California charged at them with his vehicle at around 8:30 am, according to the Santa Ana Police Department.

They were all hastened to a local hospital, where they are being treated for non-life threatening injuries.

Authorities said the suspect entered the school without permission earlier in the day and asked to use the restroom. The school was placed into lockdown until Guzman was escorted off campus by security.

He reportedly did not look well when he drove off – and appeared to be under the influence of drugs, according to ABC 7, Just a few moments later, Guzman drove into the group of students just a few blocks away from the school.

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. A total of three incremental devices were eventually found, according to KTLA,

Pedestrians and nearby drivers hastened 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 the local news outlet from a nearby house’s doorbell camera shows the moment a red sedan, believed to be the car that struck the children, accelerating toward the sidewalk of a residential area before it disappears from view.

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 then tried to flee by walking back towards his car.

Police have not yet confirmed whether the driver was in possession of a weapon – though he appeared to have a self-inflicted stab wound when police questioned him.

It’s not clear if he has yet been arrested in relation to the incident, though he is being treated for his injuries at a local hospital. 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. It is unclear whether the suspect had any ties with the elementary school.

He was brought to a hospital nearby to treat his self-inflicted wounds.

Classes went back in session for the rest of the day at the elementary school shortly after the incident, which parents were notified of via a statement released by administrators.