Michael Harrison, 26, learned there had been a shooting at Saugus High School when his sister, a 17-year-old senior, texted him: “there is a shooter, call 911.”
“I can’t even describe it, man,” Harrison said with a panicked laugh. “Imagine getting that text.”
Harrison was standing with Kimberly Simpson, 30, across the street from Saugus’ main entrance where dozens of emergency vehicles and sheriff’s deputies in tactical gear had flooded the street.
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One deputy could be heard telling a parent that law enforcement was conducting a “systematic search,” to clear all the classrooms. Simpson has three children on lockdown this morning.
Her 15-year-old daughter, a junior, was also in class when a teacher ordered students to do what they had drilled for, referring to shooting lockdown procedures.
“She’s freaked out. She’s scared,” Simpson said. “I don’t know if she’s going to want to go back.”
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Sisters Isabella, 16, and Sophoia Esser, 12, hug Nov. 15 at Central Park in Santa Clarita. Their school remained closed a day after the shooting. (Kent Nishimura / Los Angeles Times)
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Saugus High School freshman Haley Stuart hugs her family after placing flowers Nov. 15 at a memorial. (Kent Nishimura / Los Angeles Times)
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Vicky Villarreal and Matthew Arauz, 16, pay their respects at a memorial at Central Park for the Saugus High School shooting. (Kent Nishimura / Los Angeles Times)
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Hailey Stuart, a freshman at Saugus High School, and her sister Ashley place flowers at a memorial. (Kent Nishimura / Los Angeles Times)
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Sheriff’s vehicles and deputies outside Saugus High School, which remained closed Nov. 15. (Kent Nishimura / Los Angeles Times)
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Xavier Martinez hugs his son, Sebastian Martinez, 12, as people place flowers and pay their respects at a growing memorial at Central Park in Santa Clarita. (Kent Nishimura/Los Angeles Times)
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Sebastian Martinez, 12, places a football at the memorial in Santa Clarita. (Kent Nishimura/Los Angeles Times)
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Yvette Mojica, 16, a Saugus High School student who was in class at the time of the shooting and locked down for two hours, visits a makeshift memorial at Central Park. (Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times)
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Tom, left, and Madlyn Gibson, whose children went to Saugus High School, prepare a ‘Saugus Strong’ banner to be placed near a makeshift memorial at Central Park for the victims of the shooting in Santa Clarita. (Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times)
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Christine Hirst, a teacher in the school district, weeps at the makeshift memorial at Central Park for the victims of Saugus High School shooting in Santa Clarita. (Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times)
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Jessica Dumont, with her 1-year-old daughter, Juliana Sanchez, pays her respects at a memorial. (Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times)
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Two mourners pay their respects at a memorial at Central Park for the victims of Saugus High School shooting in Santa Clarita. (Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times)
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Melissa Perez, with her dog, Bandit, offers prayers and respect Nov. 15 at a makeshift memorial at Central Park for the victims of Saugus High School shooting in Santa Clarita. (Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times)
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Dylan Reynoso, a 16-year-old Saugus High School student, is reunited with father Marco Reynoso, mother Yvonne and grandmother Angie Razo. (Al Seib / Los Angeles Times)
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Students are escorted by police from the Saugus High campus. (Al Seib / Los Angeles Times)
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Anna Fineberg with her mother, Jessica. The 14-year-old was among those evacuated from Saugus High School after Thursday’s shooting. (Brian van der Brug/Los Angeles Times)
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Students are in tears while leaving the Saugus High campus. (Al Seib / Los Angeles Times)
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Students evacuated from Saugus High board buses to a reunification area at Central Park. (Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times)
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Saugus High 10th-grader Ella Cabigting is hugged by her father, Emerson. (Al Seib / Los Angeles Times)
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Students are evacuated. (Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times)
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Abraham Tovar, right, hugs fellow Saugus High student Katie Garibay as they join friends at the reunification area. (Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times)
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Student Kiki Egetoe, 17, embraces her mom, Patty, and dad, Bob. (Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times)
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Students evacuate. (Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times)
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Students and family members leave Santa Clarita’s Central Park in the aftermath of the deadly shooting. (Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times)
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Police officers escort groups of students away from Saugus High School. (Al Seib / Los Angeles Times)
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Police officers escort groups of students away from Saugus High. (Al Seib / Los Angeles Times)
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Laura Schooping-Medina, left, comforts daughter Hannah Schooping, center, and friend Lauren Farmer outside Saugus High. (Al Seib / Los Angeles Times)
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Students board a bus. (Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times)
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An L.A. County sheriff’s deputy leads students from Saugus High. (Al Seib / Los Angeles Times)
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Parents are reunited with their children near Saugus High. (Al Seib / Los Angeles Times)
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Students are escorted from the campus. (Al Seib / Los Angeles Times)
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A mother and daughter embrace outside Saugus High. (Al Seib / Los Angeles Times)
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Police escort students as they board buses from Saugus High to a nearby park to be reunited with their parents. (Al Seib / Los Angeles Times)
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A sheriff’s deputy outside Saugus High. (Luis Sinco / Los Angeles Times)
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People gather for a “Night of Prayer” at Grace Baptist Church in Santa Clarita on Thursday night. (Luis Sinco / Los Angeles Times)
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The prayer vigil. (Luis Sinco / Los Angeles Times)
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People comfort one another. (Luis Sinco / Los Angeles Times)
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At church. (Luis Sinco / Los Angeles Times)
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Two students were killed and three injured in the campus shooting. (Al Seib / Los Angeles Times)
Simpson’s 14-year-old son, a freshman, was also on his way to school but was running late, so she pulled him back inside his home after reports of gunfire.
Another son, 10 years old, was on lockdown at a neighboring elementary school.
The shooting left five people wounded, three critically. A suspect, described by sources as a student at the school, was in police custody.
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Mario Beltran, a 65-year-old neighbor who has lived across the street from the school for four decades, said he was floored to wake up and see a phalanx of police and firefighters on the block.
“You see this on the news in some other school district ... in some other state.”
The suspect, a 16-year-old boy, was found on campus at Saugus High School in Santa Clarita with a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head and is hospitalized.
James Queally writes about crime and policing in Southern California, where he currently covers Los Angeles County’s criminal courts, the district attorney’s office and juvenile justice issues for the Los Angeles Times.
