Two Los Angeles Unified students were arrested Friday after bringing guns to school, following two similar incidents in the past few weeks, police said.
The incidents at Henry T. Gage Middle School in Huntington Park and Bell High School in Bell mark the third time this week and fourth time in the past month that school police have seized guns on or near a school campus.
At Gage, school administrators called police around 9:45 a.m. about a female student believed to be in possession of a handgun, said L.A. Unified School Police Sgt. Rudy Perez.
Responding officers locked down and canvassed the school, and recovered a handgun hidden in a spot on campus.
They girl in question was found with bullets on her person and in her backpack, and surveillance video showed her earlier being in possession of the gun, Perez said.
The student was caught trying to run from school personnel and arrested, the sergeant said.
“At this moment, we don’t know why she brought the handgun,” Perez said. Investigators are looking into whether she had threatened anyone.
The school’s lockdown was lifted around 12:45 p.m.
Bell High School was also on lockdown for a time after a similar incident was reported.
Officers later arrested a male student in possession of a loaded gun on the school’s perimeter, just outside of campus, according to Perez.
Other gun seizures this week have occurred at Crenshaw High School in Hyde Park and near Cesar E. Chavez Learning Academies in San Fernando.
On Oct. 2, a loaded gun was found inside a student’s backpack during a random metal detection search at Crenshaw High School. The student fled while being escorted to the office but later turned him or herself in.
And on Sept. 13, officers stopped two male juveniles after spotting them with what appeared to be an alcoholic beverage about 1 miles away from the San Fernando school. Officials say one of the boys admitted to having drugs and a .45-caliber handgun and was subsequently arrested.
Perez said Friday’s arrests were the result of students “stepping up and saying something.”
KTLA’s Nancy Fontan contributed to this report.
