Multiple shooting reports leads to chaos, teen injured

PALMDALE >> A 14-year-old boy used a rifle to shoot a former classmate in the arm Friday at their California high school and dumped the gun in a field before he was caught in a shopping center, authorities said.

Reports of the shooting and an ultimately false report of another attack at a nearby elementary school sparked chaos, terrifying parents and drawing a massive police response in the high desert city of Palmdale in Southern California.

Police descended on Highland High School after dozens of 911 calls and some reports that there were hostages in the campus library, Los Angeles County Sheriff Jim McDonnell said.

As officers swarmed the library, more 911 calls came in reporting that gunshots were heard at an elementary school across town.

Dozens of officers with several agencies blanketed both campuses looking for possible shooters and victims. Meanwhile Antelope Valley Hospital was told several people were dead and as many as 25 students were injured, said Dr. Pavel Petrik, the trauma center’s chief of surgery.

In the end, there was just one shooting and one victim, at Highland High, about 40 miles northeast of Los Angeles.

Los Angeles County deputies detained a 14-yearold former Highland High School student in the shooting of a 15-year-old boy, who was hit in the arm.

The shooting was sparked by a dispute between the two students, said Capt. Darren Harris with the sheriff’s department.

Dr. Petrik said the reports of multiple casualties and dozens of injuries caused the hospital to virtually shut down the operating and emergency rooms for an onslaught of victims.

“Everyone from the blood bank to the lab to radiology to everyone ... it was maybe 100 people downstairs waiting for the arrival of all of these injured children,” he said. “Thankfully we only had one child that was shot.”

He said the boy had surgery and should be fine.