Parents Say They Deserved News of Shooting

Some parents of students at a Santa Ana school say they are upset that authorities kept quiet about an apparent gang shooting adjacent to campus Wednesday, but instead briefed faculty members and told them not to divulge details unless asked.

A suspected gang member was shot in the buttocks late Wednesday afternoon on the boundary of Spurgeon Intermediate School when school was out but students still mingled on the other side of campus.

Police said it was the first time in the 32-year history of the school that a shooting took place so close to the campus, just west of downtown.

Neither Santa Ana School District authorities nor police told students or parents of the incident, said Santa Ana School Police Chief Jim Miyashiro. Instead, school officials briefed faculty members the next morning but told them not to divulge details unless asked.

“There was no need to put anything out,” said Principal Robert Laxton. “The shooting is completely unrelated to the school.”

Some parents were angered at the decision when they learned of the shooting from a reporter.

“Why didn’t they say anything to us?” asked Rosa Hernandez, who had come to pick up her daughter, Irma, 11. “This causes me to worry for my daughter’s safety.”

Another mother, Lorena Zamora, asked “How can we make the right decisions for our kids if they don’t talk to us?”

The shooting took place on the Santa Ana River bike path, which some students use to walk to and from school. The school’s athletic fields and basketball courts, separated from the bike path by a chain-link fence, are open to the public when students depart.

Police provided a narrative of events:

Miguel Gutierrez, 24, of Santa Ana and a 14-year-old boy were riding their bikes along the bike path at the west edge of the middle school about 4:30 p.m. Both are suspected of being gang members, police said. They would not identify the boy because he was a minor.

They passed two boys on bikes suspected of belonging to a rival gang. Police have not been able to identify them. The two sides began arguing. Gutierrez and his companion attempted to flee south on their bikes. Seven to 10 shots were fired, and Gutierrez was hit in the buttocks. Gutierrez was treated at a hospital and has been released.

Gutierrez’s shooter escaped before police arrived.

By the time of the shooting, most of the school’s 1,800 students had left, but a handful still milled about the front lawn, on the other side of the school.

Police said they did not think the children witnessed the violence.