2 Students Shot at LA School; 1 Person in Custody

Two students were hospitalized and another was taken into custody after shots were fired inside a middle school classroom Thursday morning at a campus northwest of downtown Los Angeles.Police responded to the report of shots fired at the campus of Belmont High School and Sal Castro Middle School, located in Los Angeles’ Westlake District.  Shootings Put Semi-Automatic Rifles Ads Under New Scrutiny The victims, a boy and girl, are both 15 years old, police said. The boy was hospitalized in critical condition with a gunshot wound to the head, fire officials said. His condition was later upgraded to serious, but stable.The girl was in fair condition with a gunshot would to the wrist, according to the fire department. Gun Stocks Rise Again, and More People Own Them Than Know It “It was a very traumatic experience for students inside that classroom,” said Steve Zipperman, chief of LA School Police.Aerial video showed officers escorting a female student in handcuffs from the campus, but authorities did not immediately confirm she was the shooting suspect. Authorities also recovered the weapon used in the shooting.  Team USA’s Southern California Winter Olympians in Photos “There is no more safety threat,” said Zipperman.Three other individuals suffered non-gunshot injuries, such as minor scrapes.Several students were taken out of classrooms and searched by police during the campus lockdown. Anxious parents waited on nearby street corners for updates. Gloria Echeverria was waiting outside a line of police tape preventing people from approaching the school, waiting for news about her 13-year-old son.”I’m just hoping it has nothing to do with him,” she said. “I’m just scared for all the kids — school is supposed to be a safe place for them, and apparently it’s not.”Sal Castro Middle School is on the Belmont High School campus, located in one of Los Angeles’ most densely populated communities. About 365 students attend grades 6-8 on the campus.Refresh this page for updates on this breaking story.Photo Credit: Jonathan Gonzalez, KNBC-TV
Source: NBC San Diego