A loaded gun fell to the ground during a fight Friday morning among several students at Sylmar High — an incident that resulted in a lockdown at the school and at least one arrest, according to a source close to the investigation.
No injuries were reported.
In a communication to families and staff, Los Angeles school officials acknowledged “a disturbance on campus” and that school police “recovered a weapon from a student and that student has been taken into custody.”
KCAL news reported on the incident Friday, interviewing a parent who said students talked of a gun being found and that her 11th-grade son saw another student taken into custody from his class later in the school day.
Regarding the lead-up into the altercation, “they said that two kids were going to get into a fight, and one of the kids took out a gun on the other kid,” the parent told the television reporter.
KCAL also aired two videos identified as showing the fight that took place. In one video, it looks as though at least two students are beating another student. A portion of the second video shows a student scooping up an object from the ground that might be a gun — although the video, as aired, was blurry.
While the district did not confirm that object was a gun, a source close to the investigation said that officers recovered a loaded gun that had fallen to the ground during the altercation and was later confiscated by officers.
The source was not authorized to speak about the incident and requested anonymity.
The district acknowledged one arrest, but the source said there was more than student taken into custody.
Last week marked the start of the new school year in L.A. Unified, the nation’s second-largest school system.
The fight — and the apparent recovery of a loaded weapon — occurred one day following an after-school stabbing at Franklin High.
District officials appear to have alerted parents quickly through a messaging system, although the details were limited.
The first message informed parents that “an incident is occurring on or near our school that has required our school to go into a ‘lockdown.’”
In a lockdown “all gates and doors in the entire school are locked,” parents were told.
In an update, the school alerted families that the lockdown began at 10:15 a.m.
A third message noted the end of the lockdown, which the district later said concluded at 10:54 a.m. The third message also said the regional office “will be providing extra support staff to ensure the safety and well-being of our school community,” including mental health support.
It’s typical for such support to include on-campus school police officers. Normally, officers are restricted to patrol and not allowed on campus.
The scenario of a fistfight or assault in which a student reaches for a gun recently had deadly consequences just off campus near Washington Preparatory High, when a student was fatally shot by another student.
