Santa Clarita, CA Man Charged for Vehicular Assault on Schoolchildren

Around 8AM Monday, May 23rd, according to KTLA News, 26-year-old Jason Carlos Guzman encountered a staff member at Santa Ana’s Taft Elementary School. After asking to use the bathroom and being told to leave, Guzman complied, but as he exited the parking lot in a Mazda Protégé, he accelerated onto the sidewalk and crashed into a group of local children. KTLA News states that he followed this by hitting an SUV containing a mother and her 11-year-old daughter. CBS News adds that another witness followed him but retreated unharmed when he brandished a knife at her.

None of the children Guzman targeted were seriously harmed, according to KTLA News, although they reportedly “flew into the air after being hit by the vehicle.” The three girls, aged 6, 9, and 10, were walking to the elementary school with their grandparents. Guzman’s motive for the attack has not been released.

KTLA News states that police apprehended Guzman the same day, finding him with an apparently self-inflicted knife wound to the abdomen, and he was still hospitalized as of Wednesday. The Orange County bomb squad uncovered multiple containers of flammable liquid in his vehicle, which could have been used as “incendiary devices,” CBS News reports.

CBS News confirms that on the 25th, Guzman received 21 felony charges including “seven counts of premeditated attempted murder, seven counts of assault with a deadly weapon, three counts of hit-and-run with injury, three counts of child abuse and one count of possession of a flammable liquid.” He was previously convicted of assault in 2017. His current charges could result in a sentence of up to 49 years to life in prison.

Crisis counselors will be continuing to work in Taft Elementary this week to help students and staff process the events of the 23rd, according to CBS News.