Girl Hurt as Gun Goes Off in Class

A small-caliber gun that a Pomona High School student had hidden in his pocket accidentally went off in a classroom Thursday morning, seriously wounding another student, authorities said.

“It was right at the end of class and there was a loud bang, then silence, and the students thought that someone set off a firecracker in the class,” said Lt. Michael Ervin of the Pomona Police Department. “The students left, but then the female student started complaining of pain.”

The girl was hospitalized with undisclosed injuries. She is expected to survive, Ervin said.

The 17-year-old boy and a friend who allegedly had passed the gun to him were arrested on suspicion of having a weapon at school -- a felony, police said.

Authorities said the student with the gun apparently was sitting directly behind the 16-year-old girl who was shot. She didn’t scream, Ervin said, possibly because of shock.

Kenneth Steward, father of the injured student, Deveda Steward, said the school telephoned to ask him to pick up his daughter, saying that she had been injured.

“When I get there, I notice a bullet hole in her chest and the school was saying it was a firecracker,” he said. “No way was it a firecracker.”

Steward said he told school officials to call for an ambulance and police, which they did. He said his daughter was rushed to Pomona Valley Hospital with a small puncture wound.

An X-ray showed that she had been shot, he said. The .22-caliber bullet pierced her stomach, broke a rib and lodged in her back, where it remains, her father said.

“They said it was two inches from her heart,” Steward said. When he met his daughter at the school, Steward said, she was not sure what had happened to her.

“I don’t know if it was fear or adrenalin, but she just wasn’t sure what happened.”

He planned to meet with school officials today, because he was unhappy with their response. “They kept denying the fact this was more than a firecracker,” he said.

School officials couldn’t be reached for comment Thursday night.