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2 on campus fired at after gang signs flashed, bottle thrown, police say
An Oakand Police evidence technitian surveys the clothing of a couple teenagers shot in the front yard of Castlemont High Wednesday afternoon. Ray Chavez - STAFF PHOTOS
By Laura Counts, STAFF WRITER
OAKLAND -- Just a day before school lets out for the summer, two 15-year-old Castlemont High School students were shot on the front lawn, just before the day's last bell.
Investigators said Wednesday's shooting -- the day after graduation -- happened after someone inside a car driving past the ca
pus flashed gang signs. Someone on the street reportedly threw a bottle at the car, prompting one of its occupants to open fire. It wasn't known who threw the bottle.
Police said they are invest
igating whether the shooting was gang-related.
One student was said to be in cri
tical condition late Wed-nesday and the other in stable condition. Neither of the students' names were released because they are juveniles.
Bloodied and tattered clothes remained on the lawn after the victims were taken to Highland Hospital. At least one bullet left a hole in an office window.
Officials briefly locked down the school, before releasing students for the day.
Police responded to the school after a 9-1-1 call at 12:22 p.m. and found the two Latino victims on the lawn along MacArthur Boulevard with gunshot wounds, said Officer Danielle Ashford.
Witnesses said multiple shots were fired from a dark car, possibly a Thunderbird, that apparently made two passes by the s
chool.
Ashford said the motive is unknown. Police canvassed the school grounds and interviewed potential witnesses.
A few confused parents arrived looking for the Elmhurst Middle Sch
ool
graduation, which was supposed to take place at Castlemont. The ceremony was rescheduled for 2 p.m. today at Elmhu
rst.
Small groups of students lingered outside the police tape. They said they had just finished taking final exams. One student, who did not give his name, said he was a friend of Juan, one of the victims.
"I was standing right there by that tree, and they just drove up and started shooting from a black car," he said. "I ran."
The student suggested the drive-by shooting may have been in retaliation for an earlier fight. But he just shrugged when asked whether he was scared.
"I'm not scared, because I'm used to it already," he said before darting back into the school.
Other students, none of whom were willing to be identif
ied, gave much the same response. When asked whether they were sad to have the school year end so violently, they said they were used to it and not surprised.
A school security guard,
who al
so did not want to be named, said the school has been peaceful lately.
But only a month ago, a16-year-old former Castlemont student sought help at the school after
he was shot in the back near campus. School officials gave the boy emergency medical care and called paramedics.
A few months before that, a male suspect sneaked onto campus to start trouble with a student in a physical education class. When confronted by a teacher, the suspect pulled a shotgun from under his coat and fired a blast into the air before running away.
At graduation Tuesday night, a fist fight broke out in the parking lot, but it was apparently a family dispute unrelated to Wednesday's shooting.
School district Chief of Staff Arnold Carter said the district will send grief counselors to Castlemont today, a
nd extra police officers will be on hand.
"School will go on tomorrow," Carter said. "We will continue the educational process."
Councilmember Larr
y Reid (Elm
hurst-East Oakland) arrived at the scene visibly upset.
"I'm depressed," he said. "It's just depressing. I don't know what we can do to get through to these kids."
Reid had been at the Madison Middl
e School graduation, giving a speech encouraging the kids to not give into peer pressure, when he got the call about the shooting.
"I'm tired of seeing African Americans and Latinos dying on the streets," he said.
"They have no sense of value for human life. There's too much violence and too many guns on the streets. I'm not sure what we can do about that. I don't have an answer. We have too many young people who want to use violence to settle arguments."
Police were searching for the shooters and their car late Wednes
day.
Crime Stoppers of Oakland is offering up to $2,000 in reward money for information leading to the arrest of the suspects. Anyone with information can call po
lice at 238-382
1 or Crime Stoppers at 238-6946.
Staff writers Harry Harris, Chauncey Bailey and Alex Katz contributed to this report.
http://www.oaklandtribune.com/Stories/0,14...2204049,00.html
2 on campus fired at after gang signs flashed, bottle thrown, police say
An Oakand Police evidence technitian surveys the clothing of a couple teenagers shot in the front yard of Castlemont High Wednesday afternoon. Ray Chavez - STAFF PHOTOS
By Laura Counts, STAFF WRITER
OAKLAND -- Just a day before school lets out for the summer, two 15-year-old Castlemont High School students were shot on the front lawn, just before the day's last bell.
Investigators said Wednesday's shooting -- the day after graduation -- happened after someone inside a car driving past the ca
pus flashed gang signs. Someone on the street reportedly threw a bottle at the car, prompting one of its occupants to open fire. It wasn't known who threw the bottle.
Police said they are invest
igating whether the shooting was gang-related.
One student was said to be in cri
tical condition late Wed-nesday and the other in stable condition. Neither of the students' names were released because they are juveniles.
Bloodied and tattered clothes remained on the lawn after the victims were taken to Highland Hospital. At least one bullet left a hole in an office window.
Officials briefly locked down the school, before releasing students for the day.
Police responded to the school after a 9-1-1 call at 12:22 p.m. and found the two Latino victims on the lawn along MacArthur Boulevard with gunshot wounds, said Officer Danielle Ashford.
Witnesses said multiple shots were fired from a dark car, possibly a Thunderbird, that apparently made two passes by the s
chool.
Ashford said the motive is unknown. Police canvassed the school grounds and interviewed potential witnesses.
A few confused parents arrived looking for the Elmhurst Middle Sch
ool
graduation, which was supposed to take place at Castlemont. The ceremony was rescheduled for 2 p.m. today at Elmhu
rst.
Small groups of students lingered outside the police tape. They said they had just finished taking final exams. One student, who did not give his name, said he was a friend of Juan, one of the victims.
"I was standing right there by that tree, and they just drove up and started shooting from a black car," he said. "I ran."
The student suggested the drive-by shooting may have been in retaliation for an earlier fight. But he just shrugged when asked whether he was scared.
"I'm not scared, because I'm used to it already," he said before darting back into the school.
Other students, none of whom were willing to be identif
ied, gave much the same response. When asked whether they were sad to have the school year end so violently, they said they were used to it and not surprised.
A school security guard,
who al
so did not want to be named, said the school has been peaceful lately.
But only a month ago, a16-year-old former Castlemont student sought help at the school after
he was shot in the back near campus. School officials gave the boy emergency medical care and called paramedics.
A few months before that, a male suspect sneaked onto campus to start trouble with a student in a physical education class. When confronted by a teacher, the suspect pulled a shotgun from under his coat and fired a blast into the air before running away.
At graduation Tuesday night, a fist fight broke out in the parking lot, but it was apparently a family dispute unrelated to Wednesday's shooting.
School district Chief of Staff Arnold Carter said the district will send grief counselors to Castlemont today, a
nd extra police officers will be on hand.
"School will go on tomorrow," Carter said. "We will continue the educational process."
Councilmember Larr
y Reid (Elm
hurst-East Oakland) arrived at the scene visibly upset.
"I'm depressed," he said. "It's just depressing. I don't know what we can do to get through to these kids."
Reid had been at the Madison Middl
e School graduation, giving a speech encouraging the kids to not give into peer pressure, when he got the call about the shooting.
"I'm tired of seeing African Americans and Latinos dying on the streets," he said.
"They have no sense of value for human life. There's too much violence and too many guns on the streets. I'm not sure what we can do about that. I don't have an answer. We have too many young people who want to use violence to settle arguments."
Police were searching for the shooters and their car late Wednes
day.
Crime Stoppers of Oakland is offering up to $2,000 in reward money for information leading to the arrest of the suspects. Anyone with information can call po
lice at 238-382
1 or Crime Stoppers at 238-6946.
Staff writers Harry Harris, Chauncey Bailey and Alex Katz contributed to this report.
http://www.oaklandtribune.com/Stories/0,14...2204049,00.html
