Man allegedly attacks elementary school students after sneaking onto playground

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FOX 32 NEWS - A troubling incident at a Gold Coast elementary school leaves parents wondering about security after a strange man wandered into a fenced-in playground and attacked two students.

“I saw the man, I was playing basketball by him, I was trying to stay away,” said 6-year-old Stevie Stroud, a 1st grader at Ogden International School’s east campus.

Stevie and his classmates are okay, but two girls were reportedly shoved and kicked on the playground during recess around 11:00 AM. About an hour later, Stevie's mother got a phone call from the school nurse saying her son was okay.

“It's extremely scary and when I got the call and I heard that, I had all sorts of questions that I really didn't necessarily get answers to right away,” said Diane Stroud, Stevie’s mother.

The playground is surrounded by fences and monitored by numerous security cameras, and staff members were also out there watching the kids during recess, so it's not clear how the man was able to get on the playground.

School security escorted the man off campus and police arrested him about a block away.

“How can the bad guy get on the playground when the gates were closed, I don't understand that,” Stevie Stroud wondered.

The school sent a letter home to parents saying that the safety of students is a top priority and from now on they will keep the gates closed. Diane Stroud said that's reassuring.

“But you know like any place where there's a school playground, there still access from the outside, even if there's a gate there, you still worry that somebody can do something outside of the gate,” she said.

Stevie is thankful nothing really bad happened.

“I'm glad my friends are OK, I'm just glad about that,” he said.

Police said the man remains in custody and was being questioned Tuesday night. Charges are pending.