2 Are Shot at Gardena High

Gunfire erupted during an attempted robbery Wednesday afternoon at Gardena High School, wounding two students and prompting a campus lockdown that stretched into the night as police and dogs searched classroom to classroom for the attackers, reportedly one former and two current students.

The victims, a 16-year-old girl and a 19-year-old man, were taken to Harbor-UCLA Medical Center, where their conditions were listed as serious but stable. Officials said the wounds were not life-threatening. The attackers had not been found.

The names of the victims were not released, but relatives identified the girl as Stephanie Alonso, a member of the school soccer team.

Sgt. John Pasquariello, a spokesman for the Los Angeles Police Department, said the incident began about 2:50 p.m., when three teenagers confronted the victims in a hallway outside bathrooms near the center of campus. Students were on a break between classes.

The trio demanded money, and the male victim responded, “I don’t have any money,” Pasquariello said. “The suspect told him, ‘Well, I’ve got a gun.”’

As the two victims turned to walk away, one of the attackers opened fire with a pistol, said Officer Jason Lee, another LAPD spokesman.

“The male victim was hit in the lower back; the female victim was hit in the hip,” Lee said.

The hunt for the three suspects continued long after the campus on West 182nd Street normally closes. About 500 of the school’s 2,300 students were held in their classrooms for hours during the search, leaving parents uncertain about where to find their children.

While some students were released within minutes, others were still being held more than five hours later. Officials said the last of them would be bused to a nearby middle school and released there.

Police would say only that the attackers were current and former students but would not elaborate.

In recent months, non-students have repeatedly tried to get onto the Los Angeles Unified School District campus, which is surrounded by seven-foot-high chain link fences, prompting Gardena High to beef up security, said Board of Education member Mike Lansing. Because school was letting out, those fences were open Wednesday.

The campus search was called off by 9 p.m.

Joanna Thompson, a 15-year-old student, said she was hurrying across campus for an appointment with a counselor when she heard the shots.

“I saw a girl with a hole in her leg and blood coming out,” Joanna said. “There was a lot of people yelling, ‘Duck! Duck! Duck!’ ”

Police said that as students scattered for cover, the attackers fled on foot. Two young men were detained outside the school about half an hour after the shooting, but both were released and police said neither was a suspect.

Richard Vladovic, district school superintendent for the area, described the wounded teenagers as “innocent students.”

“They’re not gang members,” he said.

The LAPD responded to the crime because Gardena High is actually within the city of Los Angeles.

Relatives gathered outside the campus Wednesday afternoon, awaiting word on where to meet their children. At 7 p.m., Vladovic met with the increasingly frustrated families, attempting to placate them.

“I know you want your babies,” he said.

Half an hour later, Vladovic announced that the remaining pupils would be bused to nearby Peary Middle School and released there because the crowd of 150 or so angry parents was becoming chaotic. The news further angered the waiting relatives.

“It’s ludicrous,” said Gail Gatlin, whose 15-year-old daughter, Ammori, had yet to be released.

Maria Estrada, whose 18-year-old son, Saul, was still on campus, said she saw TV reports of the shooting. Her first concern was that her son might be hurt.

“I felt my world collapse around me,” she said.

Estrada said she ran several blocks to the campus, only to be held back and told by police that no information was available.

“Whether it’s my son or not, you still have to worry about your fellow man,” she said.

The students said everyone remained calm during the lock-down, and several of them used cell phones to call their parents and say everything was all right.

Many of the stranded pupils watched news coverage of the incident on classroom TV sets. But others, such as Pablo Davila, 14, had no access to television, and were reduced to doing their homework.

“It’s boring,” said Ebony Christopher, 14, who talked to a reporter through an open window.

At the hospital where the wounded teenagers were taken, a woman who identified herself only as the girl’s aunt questioned the security at the school.

“It’s horrible that it takes something like this before people really think about it,” she said.

The girl’s sister, Cynthia Alonso, a former student at Gardena High, said she always felt safe there but thought security could have been better.

Outside the school, student Karina Ulloa, 17, said violence breaks out on campus every year.

But Vladovic insisted that the school is safe and has no history of violence.

“This is like any other big urban high school,” he said. “This was an isolated incident. It could have happened anywhere.”

School board member Lansing said the shooting illustrates a larger problem that may not be solved by extra guards, gates and metal detectors.

“There has to be a better solution, and we’re going to have to find different ways to deal with it,” he said.

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Times staff writers Jean Merl and Massie Ritsch contributed to this report.