A white male transient gained entry to classroom 23 at Marquez Elementary Charter School on Tuesday evening, October 18, setting off a chain of events that was finally resolved on Tuesday this week. Third grade teacher Amy Halliburton came to school early Wednesday morning, October 19, in order to prepare for back-to-school night that evening. She found books strewn outside the classroom and noticed that the cabinet outside the classroom was open. Halliburton unlocked the door to the classroom and had trouble getting the door open because there was debris in front of it. When she finally pushed into the classroom it looked as if the place had been turned upside down. “I thought an earthquake had happened,” Halliburton told the Palisadian-Post. “It was back-to-school night and all I could think about was having to clean up the mess.” According to Halliburton, a white male who looked as if he could have been from the neighborhood was suddenly standing in front of her. “I asked him, ‘Who are you?'” Halliburton said, and he mumbled, ‘I was sleeping.'” She looked into his eyes and realized something wasn’t right and turned around and went to the school office. The police were called. As the transient walked off campus, he stopped an aide and asked, “Where’s the Santa Monica Airport?” Senior Lead Officer Chris Ragsdale said that the man, in addition to ransacking the classroom, had eaten the hamster food and vomited on the carpet. According to Halliburton, the transient had not gone into the refrigerator in the classroom, nor had he touched the children’s desks. It appears that the man had jumped a fence to gain entry. He had defecated on the other side of the fence and left his backpack, including ID, opposite where police think he gained entry to the yard. The police believed he gained entry to the class through an unlocked window. The carpet and the beanbag chairs were destroyed. The children were moved to a different classroom for the day, and that evening, parents who had children in that classroom met in the library. The transiet who had caused the damage was not located until this past Monday. A concerned neighbor in the 100 block of Entrada in Santa Monica Canyon called the police because two white males had set up a mattress in a parking lot used by an area restaurant for valet parking. The area is clearly marked “No Trespassing.” Ragsdale responded to the call at 5:30 p.m. When he arrived, he found the two males with a bottle of whiskey, clearly violating the posted sign. He detained the two trespassers. One was cooperative, one was not. As the uncooperative male became combative, Ragsdale called in an additional unit. The use of force was required to make the arrest. Once the officers gained the man’s identity, they confirmed that he was the transient who had been involved in the Marquez School incident. Ragsdale said the transient frequented the Venice and Santa Monica areas as well as Pacific Palisades. Whether it was a drug issue or a mental health issue, Ragsdale couldn’t confirm. “What I’ve experienced,” Ragsdale said, “is that often mental health issues usually follow some sort of drug experimentation.” Teacher Halliburton said everyone at the school, from the teachers to the parents, to the staff were extremely supportive during the incident’s aftermath.
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