Sylmar Boy, 14, Confesses He Shot Student for Backpack

Los Angeles police on Tuesday arrested a 14-year-old Sylmar boy who officers said confessed to shooting a Chatsworth High School student for his backpack. A 17-year-old Lake View Terrace youth also was arrested as a suspected accomplice.

The younger boy admitted he was the one who got out of a white BMW last week and shot Gabriel Gettleson, 17, while Gettleson waited for his mother to pick him up at school, police said.

“He admitted to the shooting,” said Officer Don Cox, a Los Angeles Police Department spokesman.

Gettleson remained hospitalized Tuesday at Northridge Hospital Medical Center, where administrators said he was in serious condition with one of the bullets still lodged near his spine.

The shooting rekindled fears of campus violence that earlier this year led the Los Angeles Unified School District to begin daily weapons searches at all 49 high schools.

Police would not release details of Tuesday’s arrests, noting that both the youths are juveniles.

The 17-year-old Lake View Terrace youth, arrested for allegedly participating in robberies “incidental” to the shooting, also admitted he was involved in the incident, police said.