El Toro High Student Hit by 3 Bullets Near School : Shooting: Gunfire from passing car wounds youth in stomach and both legs as he walks home. Doctor says injuries are not life-threatening.

A teen-ager was wounded in a hail of gunfire from a speeding car as he walked home from El Toro High School on Wednesday, in the sixth shooting to occur at or near an Orange County school campus this fall.

The 16-year-old sophomore, whose name was not released, was hit in both legs and the stomach by three of the dozen or so bullets fired from the car as it sped down the residential street soon after school let out.

He was rushed to Mission Hospital Regional Medical Center, where he underwent surgery. The wounds are not life-threatening and his prognosis is good, said Dr. Thomas Shaver, head of the hospital’s trauma unit.

The shooting occurred at 3:25 p.m. as the victim and a friend walked in the 25000 block of Romera Place, sheriff’s Lt. Larry Richey said. The friend was not hit.

Investigators said the shots came from a dark blue or black compact car with tinted windows and a spoiler. Three males were in the car, Richey said.

“We have no suspects at this time and the motive for the shooting is unknown,” he said.

Dozens of students, including members of the school’s football team, swarmed to the scene of the shooting within minutes. Sheriff’s investigators remained at the scene well into the night interviewing neighbors.

A shaken resident, James Johnson, said: “There was a kid lying in my front yard when I pulled up from work. I have a house filled with bullet holes. One of the bullets went right through a front wall and into a bedroom.”

Johnson said he counted at least 10 bullets holes in his garage, the side of his house and a fence.

“Something like this is really out of the ordinary for our neighborhood,” he said. “It’s usually pretty peaceful and we never have too much trouble. But, living so close to a high school, I guess you never know what could come up.”

Johnson said his father and a roommate were sitting in the living room when they heard the shots. They ran outside, found the injured teen-ager on the lawn and called paramedics.

Another neighbor, who asked not to be identified, also ran out of his house and rushed to the teen-ager.

“The boy was in shock but he was talking,” said the neighbor. “I kept him talking until the paramedics came. He said he was walking home from school with a friend when someone opened fire on him.”

El Toro High School Principal Don Martin said he was shocked by shooting, which he called “an isolated incident.”

“It seems like no community in California is immune from this kind of thing,” Martin said. “We’ve taken extra precautions to make sure it doesn’t happen again and to make sure there are no repercussions and that the community is safe.”

Martin said the school has requested extra police patrols this week.

Wednesday’s incident follows a rash of shootings near school campuses this fall. On Oct. 2, a 14-year-old Lathrop Intermediate School student was shot in the hand while walking home from the school’s Santa Ana campus.

On Sept. 18, a 15-year-old Fullerton High School student was shot to death less than a block from campus. Three people, including another Fullerton High School student, were arrested in what police said was a racially motivated gang attack.

On Sept. 11, two teen-agers were seriously wounded just outside of Loara High School in Anaheim in what police said was also a gang-related shooting.

On that same day, a 17-year-old Buena Park High School student walking home from school with a friend was shot in the leg in an incident near that campus.

On Sept. 10, a Santa Ana police officer wounded a 16-year-old boy while trying to break up a fight between two rival gangs about a block from Santa Ana High School.

This is the second drive-by shooting to occur in Lake Forest in the last 11 months. On Dec. 30, 1991, 17-year-old Bylan Hannah was killed by a bullet fired into his house from a passing car. The bullet shattered the teen-ager’s bedroom window and struck him in the lower abdomen.