SAN ANTONIO -- Police arrested one man and may be looking for others after a Thursday morning burglary at a South San Antonio elementary school.

The break-in occurred just after 10 a.m. at Five Palms Elementary School at the 7000 block of 5 Palms Drive.

Ed Suarez, spokesman for South San ISD, said that an officer was out on regular patrol at the elementary school when he noticed a broken glass door at the back of the building.

Suarez said when the officer went to check it out, he found the as-yet unidentified man with a hammer in his hand.

The two fought, but the officer managed to pepper-spray him and handcuff him to a rail.

The man told the officer there were two others still in the building, so the officer called for backup.

"He left him handcuffed to the rail, but he managed to struggle and break the rail and get out," said Suarez. "He picked up the hammer that he had and at that point our backup was here."

The man ran into another officer who had arrived and told him to drop the hammer. He did, but took off running into a nearby complex where he was caught.

Suarez said there were broken windows in at least several classrooms and that it was obvious someone was stacking equipment, including focus machines.

"Clearly, the intent was to steal," said Suarez. "The damage up there was extensive."

Suarez said no children were present because the school is on spring break.

"Maybe they thought they had the opportunity, but we have police officers always regularly patrolling," he said. "We were fortunate that he was right here at this point, when he called for backup."

Police are investigating whether other people were involved in this case.