2 Boys Held After Home Hit by Shots a 2nd Time : Crime: Two Capistrano Valley High students are arrested in the shootings after one allegedly brought a gun to school. It is the second weapons incident on a district campus in two days.

Two 10th-graders were arrested at a Mission Viejo high school Friday on suspicion of taking part in two drive-by shootings at a home in an upscale neighborhood here.

School officials called the Sheriff’s Department after a 10th-grader at Capistrano Valley High School told a vice principal that he had brought to school a loaded pistol that was used to shoot at a home Thursday night at 39 San Patricio, according to Jaqueline Price of the Capistrano Unified School District.

Shortly after noon Friday, sheriff’s deputies arrested the 17-year-old who had brought the .25-caliber pistol on campus and a classmate, also 17, both of whom were taken to the county’s Juvenile Hall.

Lt. Richard J. Olson of the Sheriff’s Department said that deputies also recovered a Honda Civic seen outside the two-story tract house at which five shots were fired at 7 a.m. Wednesday and seven shots were fired about 9 p.m. Thursday.

Sgt. Wayne Carlender, who headed the investigation of the shootings, said the incidents were not gang-related. He said a youth who used to live in the house but now lives out of state apparently owed money to one of the suspects.

On Friday, five bullet holes could be seen in a large, upper-story window of a bedroom. Neighbors said it was formerly home to the 18-year-old son of the couple who have lived at the house for about a year. School officials said the youth was enrolled briefly last year at Capistrano Valley High School.

Police declined to identify the owners of the house, who they said had requested privacy.

Carlender confirmed a neighbor’s report that the owner of the house chased the Honda Thursday night in his truck and rammed it but did not catch the attackers.

Carlender commended the homeowner’s efforts.

“What he did was outstanding. Although he put himself in a little danger, he did an outstanding job,” Carlender said.

The arrest of two students and the confiscation of a loaded weapon at Capistrano Valley High outraged school district officials, who noted that it was the second time in two days that a student had been found with a gun on one of the district campuses.

On Thursday, two freshmen girls were arrested at San Clemente High School for possessing a small-caliber pistol. The girls and a 16-year-old boy who district officials suspect was also involved in that incident were suspended and recommended for expulsion. Similarly, the youth who brought the pistol to Capistrano Valley High and two female classmates who allegedly kept the gun in their possession Friday all were suspended and face possible expulsion.

“We have never expelled a student in the Capistrano Unified School District, and in 28 hours we are recommending six from two different high schools to be expelled,” Price said. It was not clear whether the second youth arrested Thursday would be expelled since he was not found in possession of a gun.

District school board President Paul Haseman said: “We have zero tolerance for guns on campus. It’s just forbidden. This is a very, very dangerous matter and the district will take very firm action with respect to both incidents.”

The shootings provided a rude shock to the quiet Rancho Santa Margarita neighborhood of mostly young families with children, where Christmas lights already have been strung along eves and snowy decals on the house across the street from the bullet-pocked window say “Jingle Bells” and “Peace on Earth.”

Mothers who remained at home during the day Friday said they moved to the community in the hope of being guaranteed a pleasant and safe environment.

Susan Jennings, 36, said her family previously had lived near a prison in the Santa Clarita Valley and had moved to Rancho Santa Margarita in large part “because we knew there wasn’t a jail within walking distance.” The gunshots, however, have shattered her peace of mind.

“We’re scared to death,” Jennings said before the arrests. Since the Wednesday morning shooting, she said, the family dog had been barking and pacing along the wrought iron fence around the house. And her 5-year-old daughter was so distraught that she insisted on sleeping with a light on and has been crawling into her parents’ bed for reassurance, her mother said.

Another mother, who requested anonymity, said she remained uneasy even after she heard that suspects had been arrested.

“No, you can’t go to the park to play basketball today,” she told her 11-year-old son out of concern for his safety.