Student Accused of Bringing Gun to High School

In what authorities called a gang-related incident, a 15-year-old boy was arrested Tuesday afternoon outside Antelope Valley High School for allegedly carrying an unloaded gun.

“We’ve had ongoing problems with two gangs at that high school,” said Deputy Brad Foss, a member of the Lancaster gang enforcement team of the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department. So far, none of the gang skirmishes has involved shootings or other serious injuries, he said.

Foss said the arrest was unrelated to Thursday’s one-year anniversary of the Columbine High School shootings.

School and law enforcement officials said they are on heightened alert this week as the anniversary approaches.

The incident occurred about 2:45 p.m., 20 minutes after school ended.

Acting on a tip that two teenagers with knives were loitering in front of the school, a sheriff’s deputy searched the boys and found that one was carrying a .380-caliber handgun in his waistband, said Sheriff’s Sgt. Jerry Bluff.

The deputy also recovered a knife from a nearby flower bed, Bluff said.

“Clearly, if there was an intent to disrupt the school it would have happened during school hours,” said Bill Olenick, president of the Antelope Valley Union School District board. “It wasn’t school-related.”

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The boy carrying the gun had been expelled last week for gang-related activities, Bluff said. He was booked on suspicion of carrying a concealed weapon and possessing a firearm in a school zone.

The other boy, a 15-year-old student at Antelope Valley High, was questioned and released.