Suspect in Gardena High School shooting surrenders; students in classroom safe

A student dressed in black surrendered to police in a dramatic end to a standoff after three fellow students were shot at Gardena High School.

TV footage showed students running out of a classroom where the alleged gunman was hiding. Police then handcuffed the student and took him away.

Some students were being moved to a secure location on campus, which remains on lockdown.

The shooting occurred about 10:30 a.m. on the campus at 1301 W. 182nd St. The alleged gunman apparently pulled the gun out of his backpack. Officials said the gun went off, with one bullet hitting several students, a source told The Times. One student was hit in the head, another in the neck. Their conditions were unknown.

It's unclear whether the gun went off accidentally or whether the student intentionally opened fire.

[Updated at 12:28 p.m.: A school district official said two Gardena High School students were injured when a gun in a student’s backpack accidentally discharged about 10:40 a.m.

One girl was shot in the head, and is in critical condition at a hospital. The other victim, a boy, was wounded in the shoulder. According to Robert Alaniz, an LAUSD spokesman, the gun discharged when a 10^th grade boy either dropped or bumped the backpack containing the weapon.]

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Photos: Gardena High School shooting

3 shot at Gardena High School; gunman still at large

Coverage of 2002 shooting on Gardena High School campus

-- Andrew Blankstein and Sam Allen

Photo: Police talk with a handcuffed youth in front of Gardena High School. Credit: Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times

Comments

[LA Tax Payer]

How much will this cost tax payers???

[Will]

Kids with guns act just like "adults" with guns...stupidity

[5th Gen]

We're really doing a wonderful job of raising our kids. It's not about gun laws, it's about teaching right and wrong. Glorification of guns and violence in popular culture sure doesn't help.

[Perseus317]

How long do we have to wait until the media starts looking for connections between the shooter and Sarah Palin or talk radio?

[Gryphon]

Which liberal is going to be the first to blame this on Sarah Palin and her TV SHOW?

[Sean Patriot]

What? He didnt have the balls to kill himself?

[Scooter Delay]

Thanks Sarah!!!

[Robert]

Time to get serious with these "children"

Life in jail followed by an automatic death penalty for those doing life in jail

[Query]

How long until the media blames Palin and the TEA Party?

[PhoneBill]

"...pulled the gun out of his backpack. Officials said the gun went off, with one bullet hitting several students..."

Ohhh GEEZ, this was an accidental shooting, albeit in a school, it wasn't an "attack" on students as is being portrayed throughout the media.

[Harry S]

So, why have the gun in school the first place?

[gilrod]

And to think we have people holding public office who think that college kids -- 2, 3 years older than these kids -- should be allowed to carry guns on campus, to sports events and to frat parties.

What are these people thinking? What do they use for brains?

In some odd perverted way unstable persons are stimulated by the crazy actions of other unstable persons.

Recall back in the 80's when some idiot on the fwy shot another driver. For weeks we saw fwy shootings with gun-toting drivers taking shots at other drivers out of some kind of road rage.

[mike]

This has to be Sarah Palin's fault.

[Bob]

Your not going to fire a gun by bumping or dropping it. You can check a glock against the wall and it will not fire.
Accidently put it in his backpack.
Accidently took it to school
Accidently "bumped the backpack and shot someone".
Are you serious?
Hope no one "bumps" into a police officers duty belt.
Let me guess, this is "not his fault", it's someone elses, therefore we need to change the laws for the other 310,000,000 folks that aren't stupid.

[JA]

Imagine if we put the parents of kids like this in jail for the actions of their children- I'll wager that you'd see a lot more attentive, engaged parents, and a lot less guns on campus, a lot less graffiti, a lot less liquor stores held up, a lot less gang-bangers, etc. Probably more kids who can read, write, and point to the US on a world map.

[GunsAreBad]

Guns don't accidentally load themselves, then accidently pull the trigger, they don't accidently get put into backpacks, and don't accidently wind up inside schools. Wake up stupid people!

[Erwin]

Accidential? Having the gun at school ... that might have been an accident also. Neither left nor right politics or politicians are too blame ... they were'nt there. I hope the punishment is appropriately harsh and well publicized as a warning to similarly inclined students. What are parents to do. Cover their kids in kevlar when sending them off to school?

[uncle_vito]

Guns do not go off by themselves. Someone MUST pull the trigger. That's it. Blame it on the gun and not the stupid kid holding it.

[john]

School security? Oxymoron!

[Felecia]

Does the fact that he was dressed in black mean anything?? How many other student were dressed in black today?

[JR]

I'm waiting to see how the LA Times will try to tie this to those crazy people in Arizona that they report on everyday.

[ray wood]

well the law says that you can not own a handgun if you are a minor or a felon and you can not carry said handgun unless you have a permit. soooo if this young man is not 18 years old then the GUN LAW should have prevented him from carryng the weapon on his person. I just don't understand why all the GUN LAWS will not prevent this type of thing from happening. Perhaps we should inspect our GUN LAWS and determine why they are doing such a poor job. Felons and underage and non-licensed persons are running around all the time with handguns and the GUN LAWS just stand there and do nothing.

[Crystal]

If you guys are doing such a great job at rasing you kids...HOW DID A KID GET A GUN? HOW DID THE PARENTS NOT KNOW ABOUT IT? WHY DOES THIS KEEP HAPPENING? HOW DO THESE KIDS EVEN KNOW HOW TO USE IT? DIDNT YOU NOTICE YOUR KID WAS ACTING STRANGE? I MEAN...ITS THE PARENTS FAULT. IN EVERY CASE! I DONT CARE HOW SWEET THE PARENTS WERE AND HOW SAD THE STORY IS! IF THE PARENTS WERE DOING THEIR JOB CORRECTLY THIS CRAP WOULDNT HAPPEN!

[leilani in AZ]

seriously? again with the stupid and inaccurate media reports. "open fire" vs. "accidental discharge". i mean come on, i realize regardless kids got shot, but can we stop with the inflamatory reporting until information is i dunno, VERIFIED????

[MN Teach]

Why don't you guys keep your focus on the fact that a student was shot in the head, another was shot in the shoulder, and the shooter himself has basically forfeited any chance of having a future. Quit trying to point fingers and assign blame. The 'shooter' made a serious mistake and it may well cost the lives of several people. Focus on what's important.