Man carrying sledgehammer dies trying to enter elementary school, California police say

A man died after being pulled off a fence around an elementary school while carrying a sledgehammer, California police reported.

The man, whose identity was not released, climbed a fence around a parking lot at McKinley Elementary School at 2:27 p.m. Tuesday, Sept. 19, Long Beach police said in a news release.

When he tried to climb a second fence into the school, some men in the parking lot pulled him down and detained him, police said.

“At some point, he became unresponsive,” police said.

Officers arriving at the school handcuffed the man, then discovered he was not responsive and called paramedics, but he died at the scene, police said.

An autopsy will be conducted to determine his cause of death, police said. Because he was handcuffed, they are investigating it as an in-custody death.

An investigation continues, police said.

Parent Johanna Chavarria told the Long Beach Post that parents were delayed picking up their children from the school because of the incident.

The school remained locked down until 3:20 p.m., school district officials told the publication. Counselors will be available, officials said.

Officers had originally been called to the area for a report of a home invasion but were then directed to the elementary school, police said.

Long Beach is about 25 miles south of Los Angeles.