{"id":57875,"date":"2018-02-02T06:51:12","date_gmt":"2018-02-02T06:51:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.biphoo.com\/bipnews\/?p=57875"},"modified":"2018-02-02T06:51:12","modified_gmt":"2018-02-02T06:51:12","slug":"school-shooting-injured-four-students-now-believed-unintentional-police-say-12-year-old-girl-booked","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.biphoo.com\/bipnews\/news\/school-shooting-injured-four-students-now-believed-unintentional-police-say-12-year-old-girl-booked.html","title":{"rendered":"School shooting that injured four students now believed unintentional police say; 12-year-old girl is booked"},"content":{"rendered":"

School shooting that injured four students now believed unintentional, police say; 12-year-old girl is booked<\/span><\/strong><\/h2>\n

A 12-year-old girl was booked on suspicion of negligent discharge of a firearm Thursday after a shooting at Sal Castro Middle School left four students injured, authorities said.<\/span><\/p>\n

Los Angeles police do not believe that the shooting was intentional, spokesman Josh Rubenstein said Thursday evening.<\/span><\/p>\n

“At this time, the information suggests that this was an isolated incident, involving the negligent discharge of a firearm, where innocent children and a staff member were unfortunately injured,” the LAPD said in a statement.<\/span><\/p>\n

The girl was taken to Los Angeles County’s Central Juvenile Hall.<\/span><\/p>\n

The gunfire erupted in a classroom at the school in the Westlake neighborhood shortly after the opening bell and caused numerous students to run from the area, according to Los Angeles police Officer Drake Madison.<\/span><\/p>\n

A semiautomatic handgun was recovered from the scene.<\/span><\/p>\n

At least one student who was in the classroom told a reporter he thought the gunfire was unintentional.<\/span><\/p>\n

“\u200b\u200b\u200bSomeone decided to bring a gun, I guess someone was accidentally playing around with it,” said Benjamin, a 12-year-old seventh-grader, whose guardian asked that his last name not be used. “They thought it was a fake gun.”<\/span><\/p>\n

When authorities responded around 8:55 a.m., they found a 15-year-old boy with a gunshot wound to the head, a 15-year-old girl shot in the wrist and three others with minor injuries.<\/span><\/p>\n

The boy, who was shot in the temple, was in stable condition Thursday afternoon, and was expected to fully recover, according to Dr. Carl Chudnofsky of L.A. County-USC Medical Center. The girl, who was shot in the left wrist, was in fair condition.<\/span><\/p>\n

Three others \u2014 a 30-year-old woman, an 11-year-old boy and a 12-year-old girl \u2014 also suffered minor injuries, including two from gunshots, health officials said.<\/span><\/p>\n

At a news conference outside the hospital on Thursday, Dr. Aaron Strumwasser said the 15-year-old boy was extremely lucky because the bullet wound failed to cause serious damage. “I think he will do fine,” Strumwasser said.<\/span><\/p>\n

The suspected shooter was taken into custody and a firearm was recovered, officials said. Helicopter news footage showed two officers leading a handcuffed girl with long hair, jeans and a sweatshirt to a waiting squad car.<\/span><\/p>\n

Robert Arcos, a deputy chief with the Los Angeles Police Department, said it was too early to determine a motive in the shooting.<\/span><\/p>\n

Parents and nearby residents offered mixed views about campus safety. Some said bullying was an issue at Sal Castro, while others said gangs in the neighborhood are more of a concern. One mother said she wanted more security at the school.<\/span><\/p>\n

Sabrina Colon, 12, was in her seventh-grade math class when she heard a muffled bang from the class next door.<\/span><\/p>\n

“I stayed quiet and then we started seeing students run,” she said.<\/span><\/p>\n

The kids said a student had been shot. Sabrina’s teacher ran out to help.<\/span><\/p>\n

“They were saying, ‘Help, my friend’s vein popped, there’s blood all over,’ ” said Sean Contreras, another student in Sabrina’s classroom.<\/span><\/p>\n

Around the same time, Ruth Saenz’s cellphone buzzed with a series of strange texts from her daughter.<\/span><\/p>\n

“Mom I’m scared,” the first one said. “This girls vane popes.”<\/span><\/p>\n

Then: “I saw the blood.”<\/span><\/p>\n

Saenz asked her daughter if someone was calling 911.<\/span><\/p>\n

She then called the school, but no one answered. When she saw the news on TV, she left work to pick up her daughter.<\/span><\/p>\n

Alexandria Colon, Sabrina’s 13-year-old sister, was walking to the counselor’s office Thursday morning when she saw him running toward her.<\/span><\/p>\n

“Did you hear that?” she said he asked.<\/span><\/p>\n

She hadn’t.<\/span><\/p>\n

“He pushed me and other students into a classroom,” she said. “I was really scared. I didn’t know what was going on.”<\/span><\/p>\n

She said the school doesn’t have major problems with bullying or gangs, like Belmont High School across the street.<\/span><\/p>\n

“I don’t think it had to do with bullying,” Sabrina said.<\/span><\/p>\n

Sabrina said sometimes authorities will check backpacks or conduct pat-downs.<\/span><\/p>\n

“They do it every once in a while,” she said. “They need to do it more often.”<\/span><\/p>\n

In a morning news conference, Los Angeles School Police Chief Steve Zipperman said he did not know how a young person got access to a gun and brought it to campus, but warned gun owners to keep their weapons secure and away from children.<\/span><\/p>\n

“Los Angeles has a law about the safe storage of weapons,” L.A. City Atty. Mike Feuer added. “Every responsible gun owner needs to take heed.”<\/span><\/p>\n

Throughout the morning and early afternoon Thursday, scores of parents anxiously awaited word on their children.<\/span><\/p>\n

Tyresha McNair got to the school Thursday morning with her young niece. She had seen news of the shooting on TV and came to get her daughter, who is a student at the middle school.<\/span><\/p>\n

“I saw it on the news and I came here to get my baby,” she said.<\/span><\/p>\n

At the front gate of the school, McNair said she was directed to the back, which was blocked off. She said she had been texting her daughter, but hadn’t heard back.<\/span><\/p>\n

“Any other time my baby would respond and she’s not responding,” McNair said. “I just want my daughter. I want my daughter.”<\/span><\/p>\n

It was sometime after 9 a.m. when Rosario Hernandez, 41, got a phone call from her 16-year-son, Jimmy Romero, telling her a shooting had occurred at his brother’s school. Jimmy attends Belmont High School, which is across the street.<\/span><\/p>\n

Hernandez left work and sped to the school campus.<\/span><\/p>\n

She texted her 14-year-old son, Johnny Romero, whose number was listed under “Johnny baby,” and asked him if was OK.<\/span><\/p>\n

When he finally responded, he told her they were still on lockdown and said the shooting had happened inside a seventh-grade classroom.<\/span><\/p>\n

“She shot a girl and a boy,” he wrote.<\/span><\/p>\n

“OMG,” Hernandez responded. “But why mijo.”<\/span><\/p>\n

“I don’t know. Mom go home, I will tell you when we are not in lockdown.”<\/span><\/p>\n

Hernandez said there are problems at the school, including bullying and gangs. She sat waiting with worried parents at a baseball field.<\/span><\/p>\n

Nearby, Laura Gonzalez waited to get Information from police and school district officials.<\/span><\/p>\n

“I’m worried and I want her to be released already. We want to take our children home,” Gonzalez said. “I didn’t think something like this would happen here.”<\/span><\/p>\n

Gonzalez said the area around the school can be dangerous at times.<\/span><\/p>\n

“There’s a lot of gangs around the school and you do see them,” she said. “You see them fighting sometimes.”<\/span><\/p>\n

Laya Esteban found out about the shooting from a call that went out to parents, and came from her home half a mile away. Her 11-year-old daughter, a sixth-grade student, doesn’t have a cellphone, but school officials said she’s safe, Esteban said.<\/span><\/p>\n

Two of her children attended Sal Castro and did not experience any violence, so she’s always felt the school was safe.<\/span><\/p>\n

“Now I don’t know,” she said.”The only thing I want now is to have my daughter and say how much I love her.”<\/span><\/p>\n

Castro Middle School is located in a building across the street from the main Belmont High School campus. The middle school building used to be part of Belmont High when the high school had a higher enrollment.<\/span><\/p>\n

Zipperman said on KNX-AM (1070) that the school takes part in the district’s safety plan, which includes random searches of students for weapons and other contraband.<\/span><\/p>\n

The Los Angeles Unified School District is the only district its size that requires every middle- and high-school campus to conduct daily random searches for weapons using metal-detecting wands.<\/span><\/p>\n

However, an internal district audit of 20 schools released in April found inconsistencies in how random searches were conducted. Some schools failed to do the searches daily, the audit found. One-fourth lacked enough metal-detecting wands to search properly.<\/span><\/p>\n

The district started random searches in 1993 after a 16-year-old was shot and killed at Fairfax High School. A month later, a student died from a shooting at Reseda High School.<\/span><\/p>\n

The district began requiring the daily searches with metal-detecting wands in 2011 after two students were injured in a shooting at Gardena High School, district officials said.<\/span><\/p>\n

Amid middle school shooting, a debate rages over random weapons searches at L.A. campuses \u00bb<\/span><\/p>\n

At an informal presentation in January of good-attendance certificates, Principal Erick Mitchell said his campus was becoming a destination for families who wanted a smaller school setting. Last year, Castro Middle had an enrollment of 355 students.<\/span><\/p>\n

The enrollment is 92% Latino, and most students are from low-income families.<\/span><\/p>\n

Mitchell added that the school has made academic strides because more students are coming in better prepared from elementary school and because the school has emphasized long-term goals such as college and career.<\/span><\/p>\n

This focus also has improved overall student behavior, he said.<\/span><\/p>\n

“We have a new culture here,” Mitchell said. “I love this school. We have really good kids here. It’s the best-kept secret in town.”<\/span><\/p>\n

Source:-\u00a0http:\/\/www.latimes.com\/local\/lanow\/la-me-ln-belmont-high-shooting-20180201-story.html<\/span><\/p>\n

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