2 Gardena High students arrested after school shooting incident

Two Gardena High School students have been arrested for allegedly aiding a classmate who brought a gun to school Tuesday that discharged, injuring two, police say.

The two students allegedly helped the classmate hide after the gun accidentally went off in a classroom, according to a law-enforcement source. The 17-year-old who brought the gun to school hid for about an hour after the gun discharged. He was then taken into custody. The source said those arrested were 15 and 16 years old.

Tim Anderson, deputy chief of the Los Angeles School Police Department, confirmed the arrests but would not provide details.

Incoming LAUSD Supt. John Deasy said earlier that Garden High School had violated school-district policy because it did not conduct random weapons searches every day.

Deasy said a review by district administrators showed school-district policy required random weapons searches daily.

At Gardena High School, Deasy said, "that did not occur."

"I can't tell you that that would have discovered this individual," he said, but the district will be interviewing staff responsible for security at the school to determine why the policy was not being followed.

Deasy made the comments outside the high school before a meeting with parents on Wednesday morning. School and district administrators were to discuss Tuesday's shooting, the condition of the wounded students and security at the school, among other topics.

On Wednesday morning, staff members searched backpacks and scanned many students with metal detectors as they entered the school gates. A long line of students snaked a few hundred feet outside the school, moving slowly before the morning bell rang.

Students said that before Tuesday's shooting, weapons checks rarely took place, though school officials would routinely screen students for dress-code violations, such as low-cut shirts.

Cortney Hullaby, an 11th-grader, said that last week one of her teachers asked students if they felt safe in any of their classes.

"I said no, because you never know what someone has in their backpack," she said, "So I don't trust anyone."

RELATED:

Gardena shooting victims 'fortunate' to be alive

Random weapon searches occurred 'once in a blue moon,' Gardena student says

Photos: Gardena High shooting

-- Andrew Blankstein and Tony Barboza

Comments

[laura]

..i'll keep this kids my prayers...

[daniwitz13]

Still no details of what type of gun and exactly how it went down. It seems unlikely for a gun to discharge just putting or even dropping the backpack on a desk would do it. If that was the case, the police can easily replicate it by doing it as he said he did, and dropping it the way he did and see if it would click (on and empty chamber of course) My guess is that he put his hand into his backpack and somehow touched the trigger of the gun that he failed to put it on safety. He would be in more trouble if that happened. One for bringing a gun to school and not making it safe and by keeping it loaded and ready to fire. Speculation of course with no details.

[glenn grab]

This idiot who shot off his mouth just cost the LAUSD many millions of dollars in lawsuits. It is impossible to stop someone from getting a gun on campus anywhere. All you have to do is throw it over the fence in the playground, hand it through the fence, under the fence, etc. Just as a lone assassin can't be stopped, a couple of kids can get a gun into a school easily. It's nobody's fault but the kid who brought the gun to school. The LAUSD can't teach these kids to read or speak English correctly, how do you expect them to run a prison lock-down environment?.....Besides, eventually there will be no parents who will send their kids there anyway!!!!

[Doug]

And Arizona wants to allow all students to bring guns to school.

[bonkers]

I read in LATimes that it was a 9mm Beretta, not a small gun.

I'm with daniwitz13...its not likely that dropping a gun would fire *one* shot, LET ALONE *TWO* shots.

[Bob]

I LOVE LA. (:

[la rider]

The problem is not whether the gun was on campus or anything else. It's the necessity of a daily weapons search that screams for help.

[steve]

I graduated for the LA Public School system. Things sure seem different these days!

[Pam]

Due to budget cuts, most LAUSD campuses dismissed campus security aids. When a teacher phones the office for help, 90% of the time the phone is not answered. It is unsafe for students and teachers alike.

[dan gregory]

Ufortunately ladies and gentlemen I can picture a time in our short future where everyone ( I can't imagine the age break-off limit?) will have to "Arm-up?" We are now in our history getting to the point as in the old western days? Kill or be Killed? Most bad guys (criminals) have guns!! (now) How do you not fight fire but fight it with itself? (like a back burn in prairie fires) I believe my secenerio is not too far fetched to be believed as an impending reality in ours and our childrens future? What is a better solution now than I see coming? The guns are here to stay!!!

[gashaw awoke]

i would like to have friendship with some students.

[hannahsmith]

I wonder why the security forces were not able to detect the gun in student's bag. School must have a tight security policy for the safety of every students. Parents must not rely everything to school the safety and security of their children. We have also to take part on the school program, in this way we are not only helping the school but also we can make sure that our children are safe all the time. This is the reason why I installed my kid's cell phones to SafeKidZone. It's a safety protection service which has a quick access to 911 during dangerous situations. Once your child pressed the panic button family, friends and group of trusted people will be alerted about their situations. To learn more about this service visit http://safekidzone.com/