1 injured, 2 detained following shooting in Huntington Beach
Huntington Beach police are investigating a shooting that broke out Thursday afternoon that led to one minor injury and the temporary lockdown of two nearby schools, officials reported.
Jennifer Carey, the city’s public affairs manager, confirmed a male and female adult were detained by officers, who responded to a residential area on the 10000 block of Constitution Drive at 1:15 p.m. after someone reported hearing gunshots in the area.
No information was available on the injured individual, but Carey said the person’s injuries did not require hospitalization. It is unclear whether the injury may have been the result of the shooting.
Huntington Beach resident Michael Chatwin, who lives on Constitution Drive, said that shortly after 1 p.m. he was in his vehicle, about to leave home to go to the store, when he saw a car pull up to a house across the street and heard what sounded like a gun being fired two times.
“I looked in my mirror and saw several people coming out of the house. Two of them took off at a good pace, and I went down the block just like I was driving by,” he said Thursday. “When I saw the police I told them where I’d seen them.”
Chatwin said a man and a woman were located at a plant nursery on Adams near the Santa Ana River. He described the house where the incident occurred as a residential rehabilitation facility that’s been operating for the past four years. Although no serious incidents had taken place there, he said it has brought occasional parking issues and noise to the neighborhood.
“It’s been a pain,” the 78-year-old said. “And the city doesn’t seem to do anything.”
While police searched for suspects Thursday, two area learning institutions — the Pegasus School, a preK-8 private school, and Isojira Oka Elementary School, part of Fountain Valley School District — were notified a suspected shooting had taken place nearby.
Fountain Valley School District spokeswoman Rina Lucchese said Oka Elementary School had concluded classes on a minimum day schedule when staff members saw low-flying police helicopters in the area and called dispatch to see what was happening. Out of an abundance of caution, she said, the school initiated a temporary shelter in place order at 1:30 p.m. for staff or children on campus after school.
Families of the Pegasus School, where classes were still largely in session, received an emergency alert notice, sent via phone and email, indicating a temporary lockdown had been ordered, a representative said Thursday. Another notice was sent when the lockdown was lifted at around 2 p.m.
No additional individuals were located or detained in connection with the shooting during the officers’ search of the vicinity, Carey confirmed. As of 4 p.m., no arrests had been reported.
Updates
4:21 p.m. March 17, 2022: This story was updated to include information from a potential witness and local school representatives.
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