IRVINE : Charges Expected in Firing of Shot

Police said Thursday that they expect to file charges of aggravated assault against a 17-year-old SELF Alternative High School student who allegedly shot at another 17-year-old student during a fight in a residential neighborhood this week.

The student reportedly fired one bullet from a .38-caliber handgun belonging to his father in front of their home on Seton Drive on Wednesday afternoon as a group of seven other students from the high school watched, Sgt. Phil Povey said.

No one was injured in the incident and the bullet lodged in a wall of a neighbor’s house. Police recovered the gun shortly after the incident, but the student who fired the shot remained at large Thursday night.

“He’s afraid,” Povey said. “He is still outside of the city and feels that if he returns, he’ll be harmed or killed. We were able to talk to him over the phone and he says that he fired the gun in self-defense.”

Police said the dispute between the two students had been simmering for six months and stemmed from a driving altercation where one of the teens reportedly cut the other off in traffic.

Wednesday’s fight reportedly began off school grounds, more than an hour after classes let out for the day, police said.

Blows were first exchanged at a gas station at the corner of Culver Road and Walnut Avenue. The fight then moved to a neighborhood park on Sandberg Street and culminated down the street in front of the student’s home on Seton Drive, Povey said.

Irvine Unified School District officials said Thursday that counseling was made available to any students at SELF who might be upset about the incident, particularly because it comes on the heels of a Nov. 20 shooting during which a 17-year-old SELF student--an innocent bystander--was shot the face during a drive-by shooting in a shopping center parking lot near the school.

SELF, which stands for Secondary Education Learning Facility, is attended by about 200 students and is designed to handle students who are not doing well academically in more traditional school settings.