Thousands trapped inside police shooting perimeter in Woodland Hills

The massive police perimeter in Woodland Hills was causing headaches for people trapped inside -– and causing some worry for parents whose children were stuck at their campuses under lockdown.

Ken Taylor, who owns a photo studio on Ostronic Drive, said he and his employees tried to leave the area after they heard about the shooting at El Camino Real High School but were stopped by police searching for the gunman who shot a Los Angeles Unified School District police officer.

"The police stop every car," Taylor said. "When cars stop, they're opening their trunks. They just want to make sure the suspect doesn't get out."

Taylor said the police told him that if he left the perimeter, he wouldn't be let back in. So he and his employees decided to return to the shop.

"We locked our doors," he said.

Jennifer Rubenstein of Woodland Hills said she has a freshman and a junior at El Camino and a sixth-grader at Hale Middle School.

She said she was surprised about the shooting in what is usually a quiet neighborhood.

"This is why you live here," she said.

Christine Spence said she kept calling and texting her son at Hale  and finally got through to him. He told her that students were locked in fourth-period class and that food was being sent into classrooms.

"I've never wanted to do home schooling, but now with what's going on I might do it," Spence said. "I may keep my son home from school tomorrow."

The LAUSD said two schools, Calabash and Pomelo, will dismiss students at the normal time. Seven other schools will remain on lockdown for a while.

Many anxious parents were gathered in the Hale parking lot, just north of a perimeter cordoned off by police.

Shelly Devito was there waiting to be let inside so she could pick up her two children from El Camino Real.

"Nobody's telling me anything; I can't get through," she said. "My kids are texting me and calling me."

She said students were stuck inside their classrooms and had not been let out to eat lunch or go to the bathroom.

"They're stuck inside and they're not allowed to move," she said. "They're hungry, they have to go to the bathroom," she said. "My daughter told me her teacher said to make a circle around a girl who had to pee into a trash can."

Devito said she heard about the shooting while at work at a nearby preschool. "Everybody was panicked. I'm panicked," she said. "You think your kids are safe, and they're not. It's that feeling.... I don't know what to do with myself now."

RELATED:

Don’t come to locked-down campuses, LAUSD tells parents

Miles of Woodland Hills closed off as police search for suspect in shooting near school

Several schools on lockdown in wake of shooting near El Camino Real High

-- Bob Pool, Ching-Ching Ni and Kate Linthicum

Photo: The scene at Burbank Boulevard and Manton Avenue, with El Camino Real High School in the background. Credit: Anne Cusack / Los Angeles Times

Map: Shows location of police perimeter. Credit: Los Angeles Times

Comments

[Will-I-Am]

"Lock down" the prison, I mean the block(s). Cops will "protect the children" from the shooter. How shooting a cop means protect the children I have no idea, unless the cop was a kid? But that's the chant during the "lock down" of the cell block. I mean the blocks. Now try to move along folks, nothing more here to see.

[Heidi V]

The poor kids! I was in a lock down at my High School once. It's not fun, especially when there's the uncomfortable situation of needing to go to the restroom. But when you literally see the gunman running through your campus like we did at ours, you know there's a reason the police are keeping you in and safe.

[Henry Whatev]

what are these people talking about? This shooting has nothing to do with any school or child. It was OUTSIDE of el camino. geezis.

[todd sputnik]

Brilliant LAPD policework, let the shooter get away and then lockdown the entire San Fernando Valley. I guess it's a way to force the City to pay them overtime.

[ELA DAVE]

They couldn't have a couple of policemen escort children to the restroom? In times of distress, teachers get STUPID!!

[Al Bondigas]

A gunman on the loose in L.A.? Wake me up when you have some REAL news.

[marty]

LAUSD is a big MESS

[Robert Vaughn Herndon]

Lord have mercy. Could you imagine being at home and hearing a bump outside your house? Or your dog barking during this siege? I got my gun to keep me warm, pal. Or you're picking up your kid from kindergarten and some nut comes at you with a gun?
It is a misdemeanor to carry a gun but there are two many nuts running around to not have someway to protect yourself. God bless this officer, but if the nuts are shooting cops and kids, where do I stand as a citizen? With a .45.
Robert Vaughn Herndon

is Black Sunshine

[David Theiss]

That's a huge area to be "locked down." C'mon conspiracy theorists--what's really going on?

[HR]

Jennifer Rubenstein. You need a reality check. No one is safe in White Woodland Hills

[mike]

Legally speaking unless they got a warrant they can't force you to let them search your vehicle. If that was me, i would refuse unless they produce a warrant.

[BoBo]

350 cops...kids peeing in buckets ! Wow that guy is probably LONG GONE back to his barrio.
Just another waste of taxpayer money.

[Lance]

Some of these parents are so hysterical it's maddening...I mean, locking down a school isolates their kids from potential danger and these parents end up creating havoc with their hysteria. And, is there really any coroberation of the "My daughter told me her teacher said to make a circle around a girl who had to pee into a trash can" statement? Really, I find that hard to believe.

[Toni LaMasa]

@ELA the teachers have nothing to do with it!They are probably no happier than the parents or students to be locked in a room far past school hours! They do however have to follow orders. A lock down procedure in a school is for when there is a dangerous situation to keep children safe! The shooter is still on the run supposedly in the area and could easily hop a fence to hide in an elementary school or take hostages.That is why students are kept in rooms. Yes it is a bit harsh to be there for so many hours but they are under the police orders not the teachers!As far as police men escorting the students to the bathroom, who is being stupid now, these police you want to escort the children to the restroom have more important things to do like catch a criminal!Perhaps instead of trashing the schools people should appreciate that the schools are keeping these children safe!Wouldn't it be much worse if kids were released and the shooter got a hold of one of them?!?

[Tom Wake]

The cop was shot near, not in, a school. This lockdown is only happening because a cop got shot. If any normal citizen was shot an investigation would probably be underway, but a perimeter of this nature simply would not happen. Apparently cops are more special than regular people - they sure seem to think that when normal citizens have contact with them. Is LAPD really going to try and empty everyone out of the cordoned area and search it? Really? Let the kids go home and let the residents into their homes. The shooter is long gone...

[Walter]

Total violation of parents and kids that would not be happening if the victim were a student.

[Ryan Cammer]

nice post, will-i-am. i have no idea what it's supposed to mean, but nice post.

what i'm GUESSING you mean is that there's a logical disconnect between a shooter shooting a police officer outside of a school, and the school administrators putting the school on lockdown. if so, then you need to think things through a little more before you spout off with your incoherent posts.

someone who is willing to fire several shots at a police officer is likely to take hostages, shoot a child, or do just about anything else. by locking the classroom doors, it a) prevents a child from being held hostage, kidnapped, raped, or murdered by the suspect; b) gives police time to respond to an emergency on the campus, should the suspect attempt to do any of the above; and c) provides the criminal with less places to hide.

seriously, take a class in formal logic. it might help you to formulate more coherent thoughts.

[Jack Meyhoffer]

It looks like there's several hundred officers standing around the school doing nothing (besides talking to each other). Why can't they provide an escort to the kids so that they can go to the bathroom? It's pretty crummy to not let the kids go to the restroom.

[roey]

go to this school.. sucked ass.. stuck in the room 6 hours no food

[Jack]

Way to go again LA, blowing everything out of proportion. Lock downs, trapping people, causing anxiety and panic, SCARING people. Only in LA and only when it involves a police officer. God forbid if the officer was killed. If the police have the budget for all this (I'm surprised tanks weren't called in) then I think they can do with budget cuts and not other organizations that need - and deserve - funding. I cannot wait to move out of this city and state..

[Chuck Hodi]

Heck yeah! The police gets paid overtime! More moo-la!

[laura]

I was a student locked in their. We didn't know what was going on at first, we just got texts from our friends at other schools asking, "Whats happening at Elco?" We didn't know until we heard the helicopters and turned on the news saying a police man was shot outside. We were locked up for about 6 hours, no food and no restrooms. Kids would pee in the trash can while our teacher held a towel up. Most of us were hungry and bored. We weren't even scared, we just wanted to go home. Even worse, my house is in the perimeter, so once I got out I wasn't allowed into my home and had to go to a friends house for tonight. It's ridiculous. They're over reacting because it's a cop and because of the school shooting yesterday. They had too many cops!! I know it was a dangerous situation, but keeping us all locked up for that long was stupid. The shooter wasn't going to go climb a fence to get into a school to hide. I'm sure he was long gone by the time the police arrived. Plus, people who lived inside the perimeter couldn't get back to their homes. My neighbor, a 80-something year old woman was refused entry, and for what? Like she looks like a 40 year old man with a ponytail. I think the police handled this entire situation badly.

[Cindybruin]

I can't believe some of the reactions to the lock down procedures. Please know that schools are now required to follow certain procedures during a lock down for the safety of the students and staff. It is not that teachers are being "stupid" or don't know what to do. It is for the safety of others. The procedure is to have the students use trash cans as restrooms in the classroom. I work in a school setting, and I know that I do not want to risk walking around campus while an armed person (who had the nerve to shoot an officer) is out in the community. Even if I do have to go to the restroom, this is too risky.

[Cyndy Greger]

Of course this seems like they cops went over the top with the lockdown and perimeter stuff for so many hours...but the thing that cracks me up is that kids were complaining that they had to pee in a trash can!
Doesn't anyone go camping anymore? In the forest or desert?
Ever try to pee (or something else) when there is cactus all around?
THAT is uncomfortable!

I s'pose you'd rather have gone outside and gotten shot at if the crazy man were still around?

It's a temporary inconvenience, to have to pee in a trash can.
Get over it.

[Onboard skeptic]

And so what're they gonna do if the students had to go #2 and there ain't no toilet paper around?

Geesh, they should've had the cops escort the kids to the restrooms for Pete's sake!