Santa Monica : Security Measures Studied After Shooting at School

Santa Monica officials are considering creating one-way streets near Santa Monica High School and installing a radio-equipped booth manned by a security guard along Michigan Avenue in the wake of a drive-by shooting directed at a crowd of students.

Santa Monica-Malibu Unified School District officials met last week with city police and traffic engineers to discuss ways to tighten security at the 2,700-student campus.

Administrators believe that changing 7th Street and Michigan Avenue into one-way streets would facilitate the flow of traffic and discourage groups of students from congregating near the gate.

“We’re looking at ways to keep the students as safe as possible,” Principal Nardy Samuels said. “If people are looking for trouble, the goal is to present a situation where there’s nothing to find.”

The district will meet with residents before deciding whether to ask for the change, Samuels added.

Weapons were used three times in the past year along 7th and Michigan, Samuels said. On March 16, suspected gang members about a block away fired at least five rounds into a group of students leaving campus for the day. Nobody was injured.

Seven people, ranging in age from 17 to 21, were arrested and charged with attempted murder in connection with the shooting, police spokesman Sgt. Bill Brucker said. Police believe the youths are members of a gang from North Hollywood.

There was another gang-related shooting a year ago in which no one was injured, and there was a non-fatal stabbing in February, Samuels said.

Police agreed to evaluate how the school’s four security guards patrol the campus, and have stepped up their own patrols as well.