2 Teens Shot Near School

Two teenage girls crossing the street in front of Hollywood High School were wounded Monday when a fight outside a fast-food restaurant escalated into gunfire.

The unidentified girls were each shot in the leg and treated at a hospital for wounds not considered life threatening, police said.

The gunfire erupted at 3:30 p.m. as students were leaving school for the day, and some at first thought it was an April Fool’s prank.

“But I knew it was real when I saw the blood,” said Neil Humphreys, a ninth-grader at the school.

Investigators found five bullet shells in front of a Carl’s Jr. restaurant at the scene. Teenagers who were in front of the restaurant at the time said the shooting occurred after a fight broke out in a driveway next to the hamburger stand.

“The guy with the gun was shooting into the alley and then he turned to run and the gun kept going off,” a 10th-grader said. “He was shooting crazy. Both the girls were crossing the street when they were shot.”

Officers closed the intersection of Sunset Boulevard and Highland Avenue, snarling afternoon traffic through Hollywood.

Police said a lone gunman ran from the corner. Other witnesses told investigators that he jumped into a black or gray Volvo and drove off.