ANAHEIM : 2 Teens Held After Shooting by School

Two teen-agers have been arrested on charges of attempted murder following a shooting between rival gang members near Katella High School, police reported Friday. No one was injured in the incident.

Carlos Garcia, 18, and a 16-year-old male, both from Anaheim, were taken into custody about 4:20 p.m. Thursday, a couple of hours after two groups of youths confronted each other about 200 yards from the school.

“It wasn’t exactly a drive-by,” said Sgt. Craig Hunter, who works in the Police Department’s gang unit. “A guy got out of one car and shot at a guy from another car.”

Police were notified of the shooting at 2:45 p.m., when a police officer was flagged down at the intersection of Wagner Avenue and State College Boulevard. Katella High School had just let out for the day, and many students were still in the area when gunfire broke out. Two to four shots were fired, police said.

Garcia, whose bail has been set at $250,000, is scheduled to be arraigned in North Orange County Municipal Court on Monday, police said. The other youth will also have a hearing in Juvenile Court. His name was not released because he is a minor.

Last year, more than half a dozen shootings occurred on or near Orange County public schools during the first two months of classes.

“We know that during the first part of school a lot of recruitment goes on in gangs,” Hunter said. “There have been a couple of fistfights, but no weapons until yesterday (Thursday). It’s the first shooting anywhere near a school in Anaheim since school started.”

Hunter estimates that the department’s gang specialists have talked to more than 11,000 students about gang prevention and what students can do to protect themselves off campus. The tips include such things as not wearing gang-style clothes.

Katella High School Principal Jerry Glenn said that so far, there has been no problem with gang members among the school’s 1,750 students.

Neither the victims of Thursday’s shooting nor the suspects are Katella students, police said.