Arizona Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Horne was in Tucson Thursday to commend a school resource officer who arrested an armed man on a charter school’s campus last month.
Tucson Police Officer William Bonanno arrested an armed man who was talking to himself while sitting on the floor of the gymnasium at Legacy Traditional School. Police said that he intended to harm students.
Horne said Bonanno had only been working at the school for about two weeks when the incident took place, and Legacy was not in the latest scheduled round of schools to receive money for a resource officer.
"We happened to find some extra money and invited other schools to apply. This charter school applied and a number of other schools applied. And the charter school was the only one who acted quickly."
Horne said the recent arrest is a sign that every school should have an officer on campus.
"What happened at this charter school is an illustration of that. A parent said to the police officer, 'there's someone acting strange,' and he went over. And because he's experienced and brave, he realized he had to act quickly and couldn't ask for backup."
Police say the man had been doing drugs for several days. He was reportedly talking to himself, and was armed with a knife and a gun.
