Student who brought gun to Gardena High School won't be charged with attempted murder

Law-enforcement officials said they did not expect the 17-year-old student whose gun went off in a Gardena High School classroom, injuring two classmates, to be charged with attempted murder.

Rather, the Los Angeles Police Department said he would be charged with assault with a deadly weapon.

The news comes as students are set to return to the Gardena campus, which was the scene of the chaotic incident Tuesday that left the school in lockdown for hours. Grief counselors will be on hand at the school.

Prosecutors have not said when they will formally charge the boy and whether he will be charged as an adult. Law enforcement sources told the Los Angeles Times that part of the investigation was centering on whether the teen had been the subject of bullying. Some friends said he had brought the gun to school for protection.

The two wounded students, both 15, were taken to Harbor-UCLA Medical Center, where a girl who had been shot in the head underwent lengthy surgery. She was in critical condition with a skull fracture and brain trauma. A boy who had been shot in the neck was listed as stable; his wound is not considered life-threatening.

Police said the two might have been struck by a single bullet. The gun apparently went off in the classroom when the teen put down his backpack.

The Los Angeles Unified School District is expected on Wednesday to take up the issue of whether security and weapons screenings need to be updated.

Steven Zipperman, the school district's police chief, told the school board Tuesday that it was possible the 17-year-old suspect was not checked for weapons.

District officials have required searches since 1993, largely leaving principals to decide the details of when and where to conduct them. Incoming Supt. John Deasy said he convened a meeting Tuesday with school and district staff members to consider whether the policy should be updated.

RELATED:

Photos: Gardena High School shooting

Anxious students undergo weapons search at Gardena High

Gardena High School violated district's weapons-check policy, top LAUSD official says

-- Robert J. Lopez and Shan Li

Photo: A student is searched before entering the Gardena High School campus on Wednesday morning. Credit: Mark Boster / Los Angeles Times

Comments

[MMG]

As a 4th year high school teacher in South Los Angeles, I have never witnessed any of my students being checked for weapons or various items at school. The threat is there, but it is left for the principal to decide when and where that happens. Unfortunately, it does not get done, mainly due to lack of time, money, and inconvenience. The policy needs to be addressed and updated by the district. I have never felt unsafe, but you never know.

[V]

That 17yr old boy who took the gun to school, should be charged not as an adult because he did not mean any harm, but still deserves a punishment, and a big one, because he was not supposed to be carrying a gun regardless if he was being bullied or not! and where are this boy's parents!?!? they dont even have him on check?!?! So the boy is already runnin around causing trouble, It seems he was a born felon, walking around with a gun, for "protection" So that means he was going to shoot someone regardless or not PROTECTION?? he was planning on shooting some1 if he was going to protect himself, but what about the so called bullies? How were they bulluing him?? with weapons too? or just words??

[christy lamoli]

crazy situation. my heart goes out to the 2 kids.

[MAMI K]

ALWAYS AFTER THE FACT THIS SHOULD HAVE BEEN DONE ANY WAY DO YOU THING SOMEONE WILL TURN AROUND AND BRING A GUN THE NEXT DAY ? THEY ALREADY KNOW THAT SECURITY AND POLICE WILL BE THERE FOR TWO ,THREE DAYS AFTER THEN ON TO THE NEXT STORY

[keeping it real]

i remember back in my high school days, when students carried only books and a sack lunches with them. OMG we didn't even have backpacks then. we never had to carried an semi weapon to school for protection. this is a sad situation for all parties involved. pray that the two students, survive this and not be permantely disable. my prayers go out to them as well as their family.

[Elizabeth Adams]

Children in possession of gun at any age is unacceptable. How many more people need to die or suffer life threatening injuries before the public wakes up with regard to the irresponsibility of an armed society? Unfortunately, our politicians depend on the millions of dollar s donated to them by the NRA and those citizens who think anyone and everyone should be armed and dangerous. Less than two weeks have passed since Rep. Giffords was shot in the head by a gun toting mentally deranged individual, several others murdered, and still others severely wounded. Now we have a young girl who has suffered the same fate. Enter Las Vegas, where a gun show is proudly displaying and selling the same kind of gun clip that the Arizona killer used. Furthermore, they blatantly give pet names to weapons that are meant to kill such as, "Joe." This is absolute madness from a society that is becoming increasingly violent and holds little value for human life.

[GermaicanSpice]

I think it's good that this young man won't be charged with "attempted murder", because this was an ACCIDENT, not a malicious act. He wil still have to face the consequences of being charges with "assault with a deadly weapon". This is an all-around sad incident, in which all of the people involved are victims. It wasn't a smart move on the boy's part to carry a gun in his back pack, however, knowing how bad some schools and neighborhoods are, I can sort of understand him wanting to protect himself. It's sad our kids have to feel unsafe in our schools and neighborhoods.

[Authentic Angeleno]

Assault with a deadly weapon is a far more appropriate charge for this offense than the original attempted murder charges the LADP said he was being booked on.

A horrible decision (bringing the gun to school), coupled with his lack of gun training (should always have the safety on until you're ready to pull the trigger), lead to this very tragic incident (girl in grave condition/brain trauma).

It's a very difficult situation all around. He apologized before running off which means he has a conscience, so I won't demonize him for what is a life-altering (for all involved) mistake.

[dan neil]

Oh how nice lets give our teachers and educational system more money for the great job there doing what a wonderful society they building a mecca for all children..

[Irene]

I'm so happy this kid won't be charged with attempted murder. I'm not sure what is happening in this kid's life that he is carrying this weapon? Kids do stupid things...what a horrible price to pay. I'm waiting to see updates on this.

[alan hart]

All of these charges require intent to hurt someone. Since there was no intent, the charge cant be more than criminal mischief. Our DA'a are a bunch of morons.

[R.coronado]

A person who carries a gun has the intentions to kill. The parents need to be investigated as to the gun & behavior of this young man. I fear for our children, not only are kids getting killed outside but inside our schools too?Even if you put
metal detectors or x-ray boxes by the entrance of a school, stepping outside of the school or simply outside is already a killzone! How do we stop this?

[thatguy]

Why are people routinely overcharged with crimes clearly beyond what they are guilty of? Is it to intimidate them into pleading guilty to a more realistic charge?

The boy violated the law by bringing the gun to school and should be charged with that. But he did not assault anyone. He did not threaten them, he merely put his backpack down and the gun accidentally discharged, according to all reports. He did not intend to show the gun to them, to threaten to shoot them, or to fire the gun. Are we supposed to believe that the prosecutors are magnanimous just because they didn't file the even more ridiculous charge of attempted murder?

[Rational Man]

This Kid Needs to be Punished, but not at what some of you Angry Mob like people say. He did a Stupid thing. There was NO INTENT on hurting anyone. He like so many others should never possess a GUN because of so much Safety needs to be learned.
However he should be remanded to remind others that this will not be tolerated.

[Robin Pittman]

Schools don't have the resources to screen all the kids every day. The enhanced security measures currently in practice at Gardena High are a waste of time and money. Parents should take responsibility for making sure their kids don't leave the house with guns.

[tomsmom]

If the kid was transferred from another school (Compton HS) for a disciplinary reason then he is a LSP - Local School Placement. Honestly expelling kids is almost unheard of in Calfiornia Public Schools. Kids are rarely transferred as LSP's for a single incident unless it is parent initiated. A condition of his probation may be that he was to be transferred to another HS (to get him away from whatever element he was getting in trouble with). There is a lot not being reported but truth is that if a kid wants to sneak a weapon in to a school they will find a way, sad but true.

[GiGi]

These kids can't win no matter what they do. I was reading comments on web pages where this story was reported on a national level yesterday, and everyone was ready to condemn this boy.

Of course, all the racists were shouting to repeal Amendment 13, calling the boy a thug and gangster who should be done away with, etc.

Yet, when we look at all the kids recently who have committed SUICIDE rather than murder due to bullying, people name all the ways they'd have defended themselves againt the bullies. They say how, if they were the one being bullied, they'd hand out all forms of punishment to the bullies instead of taking their own life. Heck, there's a whole national awareness thing going on right now about bullying.

So, here we potentially have a boy who was prepared to dole out that aforementioned punishment to his bullies instead of taking his own life and people are ready to hang him.

So what should these kids do? Tell their parents? Well, when kids DO tell their parents and we end up seeing news footage of those parents on buses giving the bullies a well-deserved beating, the family of the victim is condemned yet again.

Tell the school? Well, if a kid has a bullying problem, the school tells them they are not allowed to defend themselves. And if they do, they get suspended along with their bully. That's the extent of their involvement. I, as a parent in LAUSD, have been told exactly that several times over the years when my kids had problems with bullies and tried to do the right thing and tell "the authorities".

Another time, my son's phone was stolen from him in school. Witnesses stepped up on my son's behalf because the thief was so hated by his classmates. You want to know what the school did? Not a dang thing. Their stance was, "Oh well, sorry. There's nothing we can do because it took place yesterday and there's no way for us to check his person for the phone today". So, yeah, telling the school gets you nowhere.

Tell the police? They do not make a PRE-EMPTIVE strike in cases like this. They are only good for coming in after all the harm has been done to write reports. You see how they descended upon the school in full force after the shooting yesterday? They wouldn't have done that or anything close to it if the boy had gone to them for help with his problem.

If we, as a nation, are dealing with a large bully organization such as a terrorist group, we defend ourselves with deadly force. And, theoretically, we as individual citizens have a right to self-defense as well. But it doesn't work out so well for victims in practice.

So tell me, people, what these kids are supposed to do...

[Schigolch]

The boy said that he needed the gun for protection. Is the atmosphere inside Gardena High so threatening that a student doesn't feel safe there without a loaded gun?

[Retired Police Officer]

I would think that part of the reason they don't want to charge the suspect with attempted murder is based on the level of proof, Assualt with a deadly weapon does not require the same level of proof, don't need to show that the suspect intended to commit murder, only need to prove that the incident occured and the suspect charged is the party involved.
Having said that the other issue here is the willingness of our society to accept these incidents, it has been time, for a long time, for us as citizens to simple say "NO MORE" we cannot and will not accept bad behavior any longer.
In every situation, decision, there are consiquences, good decision have good conciquenes and by the same token bad ones have bad conciquences, people of all ages need to learn to accept the conciquenes for thier decisions, good or bad, what happen to this nation that we keep looking for a easy way out, and not give the punishment that is fitting for the incident???

I feel bad for the families and the two victums as well as the other students who witnesses this, but I also have some compassion for the suspect, but not enough to allow for anything less then the max punishment by the law allowable.

[Ash]

I have been hearing that the suspect was a Special Ed. student. I think this should be taken into consideration, when investigating the reason for which he was carrying a gun. Depending on his diagnosis, this might have a huge part in his ability to ask for help or communicate his feeling of being threatened. I'm just curious to see if he had displayed signs of distress and if they were ignored, like many cases in LAUSD.

[Matt]

No amount of Gun Laws that Boxer and her liberal cronies want to pass will ever prevent these situations.

It's extremely easy to buy a handgun illegally. Just ask your local 18th Street and MS13 gang member.

[ssfullerton]

Remorse? It's easy to say sorry after the fact - sounds like crocodile tears - or he is sorry he got caught.

[George]

As someone who knows about the gun previously said, those guns don't just automatically discharge like that. And where's the backpack?! Oh yeah, just a small piece of evidence.

If he's not old enough to be tried as an adult, then his parents should be. They are ultimately responsible, if they allow, or have no knowledge of their kid having a loaded pistol, let alone bringing it to school. They should be prosecuted mercilessly, who cares if it was intentional; bringing a loaded gun to school was intentional.

Wands alone won't work. Enforcing the law does. Unfortunately, that doesn't happen much anymore these days, so people disregard the law. The poor kids who got shot are scarred for life, sounds like the girl indelibly. Yet this creep will get away with a virtual slap in the wrist becasue he and his family will play up how he's somehow a victim of our society, and so therefore it's our collective fault, not his or his parents'.

[anon]

it shows that school is not responsible, LAPD, is not responsible, the parents are not responsible, the kid can get off with almost nothing.. Wow no wonder why policies are followed through and kids and teachers are on their own. What the community policing?? It shows even after horrific incidents in columbine, virginia tech, we are wowfully still unprepared for this incident. If this kid, was worst, like in one in arizona.. all your kids are open targets.... All it takes in one kid. You have to start committing to more policies and holding parents and communities more responsible. You can't prosecute the kid but, you can hold the parents responsible. There should harsher punishment for bring guns to school, or near a school. So that gangs and other people who bring guns near is school is locked up. I'm sorry these are children and they have no way to protect themselves.

[Gary]

Let the kid go. Not his fault. Time for the lawsuit against the gun maker, the NRA and the security guards.