He was drunk, he was armed with a kitchen knife — and he was standing outside an East Boston elementary school, allegedly threatening parents as they escorted their children into school.

Boston police officers who arrived outside the Otis Elementary School on Marion Street around 8:30 a.m. Thursday were able to quickly take the man into custody. And once they did, officers found he was armed with a kitchen knife with a nine-inch blade, police wrote on bpdnews.com

One parent told police that as she neared the school accompanied by her 4-year-old son, the suspect “showed the knife and threatened her with it as she walked past him,” an action that prompted the mother to cross the street to avoid any further interaction with him.