Police are searching for a mental health patient who has threatened to kill children at a Garden Grove elementary school, authorities said.

Norris Phuoc Nguyen, 23, escaped Friday afternoon from Royale Health Care Center at Bristol Street and Warner Avenue, where he was being treated for various mental health issues, authorities said. Nguyen has stated his intent to take “total control” of an elementary school in Garden Grove, targeting children and a specific teacher.

“He has written manifestos and other writings that are extremely extensive. Extremely descriptive,” Garden Grove Police Chief Kevin Raney said at a news conference. “The thoughts that he is having are real to him, and there is, unfortunately, a very strong potential that he will act upon those thoughts.”

Police have known about Nguyen since August 2011, when he went to the Westminster Police Department, dressed in camoflouge and carrying an unloaded assault rifle, and said he wanted to “die by cop,” NBC4 News reported. Police learned in later questioning that Nguyen was making threatening statements about children and a specific teacher at a local elementary school.


Nguyen is 5-foot-8’, 150 pounds, of Vietnamese descent and was last seen wearing a black hooded sweat shirt, white T-shirt, gray sweat pants and white shoes. Police do not believe he has any weapons.

Anyone who has seen a person resembling Nguyen should avoid contact and call 911 or the Garden Grove Police Department at (714) 741-5704.

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