HUNTINGTON BEACH : Police: : ‘Attack’ on Man Self-Inflicted

A high school janitor treated for two superficial chest wounds first told police he was shot by youths drinking beer on campus but later confessed the wounds were accidentally self-inflicted, police said Thursday.

William Romero, 42, of Huntington Beach called police about 11:30 p.m. Wednesday to report he had been shot at Ocean View High School, 17071 Gothard St., said Lt. Ed McErlain, a police spokesman.

He reportedly gave officers the following account:

Romero, a supervising maintenance worker, was on campus about 11 p.m. when he saw a dark sedan parked in the lot off of Gothard. He saw two teen-agers drinking beer inside.

He asked them to leave, but one youth attacked him with a knife, cutting his shirt and kicking him in the stomach. The other then shot him twice in the chest.

The youths drove off and Romero went to his office to call authorities.

But after interviewing Romero at Western Medical Center-Santa Ana, where he was treated and released early Thursday, detectives determined he had shot himself, McErlain said.

Romero still insisted that he had confronted two youths for drinking beer in the school parking lot and that one of them cut him with a knife, the police spokesman said. Then he went into his office and got his gun.

“He claims he was so upset that he accidentally shot himself,” McErlain said.

No charges have been filed against Romero but police plan to cite him for filing a false report.

Investigators still are looking into his claim about two youths in the sedan and also are re-examining an earlier incident Romero reported.

Last month, the janitor told police he had confronted a youth spray-painting a school wall about 4:30 a.m. and had chased him off, but not before the teen shot him once in the leg. Luckily, he said, the bullet bounced off loose change in his pocket.

“We are looking into the possibility that the earlier incident as well as the incident from (Wednesday) night actually did not occur like he reported,” McErlain said.