Eighth-Grader Wounds Himself With Gun Brought by Student

An eighth-grader at a Northridge junior high school accidentally shot himself in the leg during his U.S. history class Tuesday with a gun brought to campus by a friend, officials said.

The 13-year-old Northridge boy was in stable condition at Northridge Hospital Medical Center with a wound to the upper left thigh, according to school district and hospital officials.

The gun, a .25-caliber Beretta, apparently was brought to Alfred Bernhard Nobel Junior High School by a friend of the injured boy. The 14-year-old was arrested by school district police for bringing a firearm onto the 2,100-student campus in the 9900 block of Tampa Avenue, Los Angeles Unified School District spokesman Don Coleman said.

Neither of the boys was identified because of their ages.

Both could face expulsion under tough guidelines adopted last year by the Board of Education to crack down on campus violence, Coleman said. The rules call for the expulsion of any secondary-level student caught with a firearm. Districtwide, 354 guns were confiscated during the 1989-90 school year, according to a district crime report.

It was unclear Tuesday why the boy brought the weapon to school or where he got it.

Assistant Principal Baxter Golden said neither boy is a gang member, adding that both are good students with no history of disciplinary problems.

“It was a stupid, unfortunate mistake,” Golden said. “Guns do not belong in school, but these kids are not gang members. They’re good kids who did a stupid thing.”

The injured boy took the gun from his backpack and was handling the weapon when it fired, Coleman said.