3 Cars at School Are Believed Hit by Gunfire

HUNTINGTON BEACH —  Three cars were damaged in the Marina High School parking lot Wednesday in what police say appears to be a gang-related shooting.

Huntington Beach Police Lt. Charles R. Poe said two women waiting in the parking lot in separate cars heard a loud “pop” shortly before classes let out at 2:45 p.m. The women then saw the driver’s-side window of a nearby car crack, Poe said.

After the popping noise, Poe said, two teen-agers who had been waiting with one of the women ran to the school’s administration building to report it. Poe said the women then heard another popping noise, and saw the window of the nearby car shatter.

“We have combed through the car, the broken glass, everything,” the officer said. “We can’t find empty shells, bullets or anything to cause the window to do that.”

A later search of the area revealed damage to two other cars, both belonging to students, Poe said. The right window of one car, an Isuzu, was shattered, and another car, a blue Toyota, had a one-inch hole in its left rear window.

Poe said one of the teen-agers, a 19-year-old whose identity was not released, acknowledged that he was the target of a gang-related shooting near Westminster a month ago. But police are not classifying the Marina High School case as gang-related, Poe said.

“At this point we don’t know if someone is randomly shooting at windows or if they were shooting at this kid again,” he said. “We may never know.”

Karen Gilden, the school’s assistant principal, said violence is rare on the campus.

“We believe this to be an isolated incident,” she said.

Gilden said the school has about 2,100 students.

Poe said the school does not have a history of gang problems, but pointed out the increasing amount of violence on school campuses in recent months. On March 17, a student at Edison High School was stabbed and seriously wounded, and a week earlier, 22 students were suspended from Fountain Valley High School for their involvement in a brawl. One student was stabbed in the head and neck in that clash.

Both students are expected to recover from their injuries.

“We’re getting increasing violence on all of our campuses, and this is just another example,” Poe said. “We predicted we would start having shootings, and we are.”