Update: Escaped Mental Patient Back in Custody

Updated at 7:30 p.m.

LOS ALAMITOS, CA -- A 23-year-old man who escaped from a mental health facility and was believed to be a danger to children was taken into custody Saturday, Santa Ana police said.

Norris Phuoc Nguyen, who was last seen near Bristol Street and Warner Avenue, escaped from a mental health facility Friday, according to the Santa Ana Police Department.

Nguyen was believed to be a danger to the community, children at a Garden Grove school specifically, police said.

Garden Grove Police Chief Kevin Raney said Nguyen “has demonstrated and verbalized a substantial threat to children in Garden Grove, and he is committed to harming children at this school.”

Raney also said the escapee verbalized a desire to be placed in a “suicide by cop scenario.”

The general public and law enforcement agencies were put on alert, but Nguyen returned to the mental health facility about 4 p.m., and he remains in custody, police said.

Original post:

Officers were on the lookout today for an escaped mental patient police said made threats against students and a teacher at an elementary school in Garden Grove.

Norris Phuoc Nguyen, 24, walked out of Evaluation and Treatment Services, an Orange County Health Care Agency mental health facility in the area of Warner Avenue and Bristol Street in Santa Ana, around 4:45 p.m. Friday, police said.

"Mr. Nguyen has repeatedly made these threats," Garden Grove Police Chief Kevin Raney said at a news conference tonight."He has written manifestos and other writings that are extremely extensive, extremely descriptive."

In 2011, Nguyen was detained outside the Westminster Police Department, where he was found wearing fatigues and carrying an unloaded assault rifle, said Garden Grove police Lt. John Keely.

Nguyen has been diagnosed with mental illness, Keely said.

Police did not release the name of the school. They are working with school district officials and are providing added security at the school, Keely said.

"We hope to have this resolved by Monday morning," Keely said.

Nguyen is Vietnamese, 5 feet 8 inches tall and 150 pounds. He has black hair and brown eyes and was wearing a black hoodie, white T-shirt, gray sweat pants and white shoes.

Police learned about Nguyen's manifestos following the Newton, Conn. elementary school shooting that killed 26 people, including 20 schoolchildren, according to The Orange County Register.

Nguyen has a fixation with the Garden Grove school and has stated an intention to take "total control" of it, police said.

Anyone who sees Nguyen was urged to call 911 as he is to be considered dangerous and in need of treatment.

- City News Service