Gunfire Hits 2 Students at Junior High : Van Nuys: The ninth-graders were wounded in the legs. Police have identified the gunman as a gang member.

Two students at Robert Fulton Junior High School in Van Nuys were shot in the legs Friday morning when a lone gunman across the street flashed gang signs, then fired six bullets at a group of students standing outside the school, Los Angeles police said.

The two ninth-graders, both 15, were treated at Valley Presbyterian Hospital and released a few hours after the 7:35 a.m. shooting, a hospital spokesman said.

School administrators, who patrol the campus entrances daily, were nearby when the shooting occurred.

“The vice principal was 20 feet away and that did not deter the gunman,” said Principal Wayne Tyra. He did not see the gunman but heard the shots, Tyra said.

The students had gathered in front of the school before their first-period class when the assailant, an 18-year-old male, approached them from across the street in the 7400 block of Kester Avenue, Detective Greg Demirjian said. The gunman fled in a black Chevrolet Monte Carlo, he said.

“Confrontation between rival gangs was the motive for the shooting,” Demirjian said. The gunman and the students apparently exchanged words before the shooting.

Witnesses recognized the gunman as a neighborhood resident and police further identified him as a gang member, Demirjian said. The youth remained at large.

The Police Department and Los Angeles Unified School District have arranged for increased patrols before and after school and during breaks through next week. There will also be a school district officer on campus, Tyra said.

Robert Fulton Junior High School has not had any gang-related shootings in the past, Sgt. Dan Honey said. Though gang activities have increased in the Van Nuys area, “this was not an expected happening” at this school, he said.

Staff writer Henry Chu contributed to this story.