How did 2 bullets end up inside an O.C. middle school?

Travis Ranch officials say campus remains safe, believe student brought ammunition.

Two bullets were found inside a Yorba Linda school Wednesday, authorities said.

Students at Travis Ranch School had left after their second day back from summer break when a staff member found the bullets in a room in the middle school section, according to the Orange County Sheriff’s Department.

Authorities are trying to determine how the bullets got there. They could not confirm whether the bullets were discovered in a classroom. School officials suspect a student brought them.

Deputies swept the room and searched the rest of the school but did not find any weapons or additional ammunition, said Carrie Braun, a spokeswoman for the Sheriff ’s Department.

The county’s School Mobile Assessment and Resource Team — composed of deputies and officers trained to assess threats at schools — is looking into who had access to the room.

“There have been no credible threats related to the bullets being there or threats to the school in general,” Braun said.

Travis Ranch Principal Taylor Holloway sent an email Wednesday night to parents at the school, which serves students from kindergarten through eighth grade, notifying them of the finding and assuring them that a school resource officer would be on campus the next day.

“We sincerely regret, but also understand, that this incident may leave you and your student with a sense of worry,” Holloway wrote. “Please know our school prides itself on fostering a culture that promotes the safety of students, staff and families. We recognize that a safe environment is essential to student success and unequivocally do not condone this type of item being brought to campus.”

The discovery sparked fear among families and prompted some parents to keep their children home for the day. There were 92 more student absences Thursday than the previous day, according to district officials.

On Thursday, Holloway sent a follow-up message to parents saying that school officials “firmly believe that the bullets were brought as a result of a poor decision made by a student and that our school campus continues to be a safe place.”

This isn’t the first time bullets have been found inside an Orange County middle school. In 2019, three unspent .22-caliber bullets were discovered at Thurston Middle School in Laguna Beach.

Placentia-Yorba Linda Unified School District Board of Education President Carrie Buck wrote on Twitter that it’s unclear how long the bullets were inside the room at Travis Ranch School. She called the situation “very alarming.”

“The district and [Sheriff’s Department] are being very diligent and proactive,” she wrote.