Intoxicated man with shotgun seen walking near elementary school, Amador deputies say
Deputies on Thursday arrested a man suspected of carrying a shotgun while intoxicated as he walked along the back fence of Pioneer Elementary School, Amador County sheriff’s officials said.
Michael Daniel Wilson, 61, of Pioneer was arrested on suspicion of child endangerment, unlawful possession of a short-barreled shotgun, being armed with a gun while committing a felony, resisting arrest unlawful drug possession while armed with a gun, drug possession, possession of drug paraphernalia, according to a news release from the Amador County Sheriff’s Office.
The incident was reported shortly before 10 a.m. Thursday, when the Pioneer Elementary School Principal Carmen Glaister called the Sheriff’s Office. The principal told authorities there was a man walking along the school’s back fence, and the man had a shotgun.
Campus officials enacted their safety protocol, ushering all students inside the school along Highway 88, about 15 miles east of Jackson. Sheriff’s officials said everyone was inside and accounted for by the time deputies arrived at the school about six minutes after receiving the call.
The first deputies to arrive created a perimeter around the school for security until additional deputies arrived. During this time, the deputies learned at least one teacher and some of the children had spotted the armed man who was last seen in the woods behind the campus, according to the Sheriff’s Office.
Sheriff’s dispatchers searched through records to determine a possible suspect who could be living in the area based on the man’s description provided by a school official.
After more deputies arrived, they began searching the area and tried to contact a resident who matched the description of the armed suspect. Dispatchers spoke that resident by phone and asked him to come out of his home to speak with the deputies.
Sheriff’s officials said the resident, later identified as Wilson, came out of his home and “was immediately confrontational with the deputies, refusing to follow any commands.” They said Wilson returned to his home and came out a second time, still refusing to comply with the deputies’ commands, “while being verbally confrontational.”
The deputies eventually detained Wilson, even though he was yelling and resisting them, according to the Sheriff’s Office.
Outside Wilson’s home, the deputies found a loaded shotgun matching the school’s description and a loaded handgun, sheriff’s officials said.
Wilson admitted to the deputies that he was the man seen near the school and he was under the influence of “illegal narcotics and alcohol” at the time he was spotted behind the campus, according to the sheriff’s news release.
Detectives obtained a search warrant for Wilson’s home and found inside 25 grams of methamphetamine, drug paraphernalia and other guns, sheriff’s officials said. Wilson was booked at the Amador County Jail.
The Sheriff’s Office thanked the school principal and staff for quickly calling authorities and enacting the campus safety protocol for this type of incident.
“Their calmness, compliance and recollection were pivotal in resolving today’s incident swiftly and safely,” sheriff’s officials said in the news release.
