When the lunch bell rang, the mothers entered the school and proceeded to patrol the hallways. The Panthers remained outside in case any problems arose. The mothers informed the principal that they were there to ensure their children’s safety and protect them from brutal treatment by school officials. “We’re concerned citizens,” they told him, “and we’ll whip your ass and anyone else’s that we hear of slapping our children around.”

School officials called the police, and an officer soon arrived. Upon hearing about the angry parents inside, he demanded to know what was going on. Five of the Panthers sitting in their car outside the school were openly armed, four with shotguns and one with an M-1. According to Seale, when the officer saw the guns, he began to stutter. He asked what all the guns were for, and Newton told him that he and his companions were members of the Black Panther Party and that the guns belonged to them. The officer asked for his driver’s license, and Newton obliged. When he saw Newton’s name, he went to his car and radioed for reinforcements. Another police car soon arrived, but there was nothing the police could do. The Panthers were acting within the law, and apparently the police did not want to inflame the situation further. The mothers patrolled the hallways until the end of the lunch period.