SAN CLEMENTE : Students Briefed on Gun Incident, Arrests

In an incident that one school official said began as “a disagreement between two young men who used to be friends,” a San Clemente High School junior found himself literally looking down the barrel of a gun, authorities said Monday.

Principal Christopher Cairns and other school officials on Monday briefed students in their classes “to be sure that they understood the facts of the incident.”

“This is simply an isolated incident . . . ,” Cairns said. “It is not in any way gang-related.”

A senior and two young men who are not students were arrested on suspicion of conspiracy and assault with a deadly weapon in connection with the incident, Sheriff’s Lt. Tom Garner said. The senior was taken to Juvenile Hall, Garner said. The other suspects--Chywan Jackson, 18, of Mission Viejo and Germaine Hall, 19, of Long Beach--were being held in Orange County Jail in lieu of $50,000 bail each.

According to police, the incident occurred Thursday when the senior asked Jackson to threaten a junior on the senior’s behalf. Later, the junior saw the senior behind the wheel of a vehicle in the school parking lot.

“The victim walked up to the other juvenile and asked him to call Jackson off,” Garner said. “Unknown to the victim, Jackson was in the back seat of the car with another individual named Germaine Hall. . . . Jackson opened the car’s back window and shoved what appeared to be a 9-millimeter, stainless-steel pistol in the victim’s face, striking his eye.”

The junior was not injured, Garner said.