Air gun claim shocks school

Girls say they were victims of a drive-by shooting; police find plastic pellets near Edison High School.A group of Edison High School students may have been the target of a drive-by air gun shooting recently, school officials said in an e-mail sent to parents and community members.

Three girls were walking from the school’s parking lot toward the school in the 21400 block of Magnolia Street on Nov. 16 when they heard a loud popping sound, said Huntington Police Lt. Craig Junginger.

Minutes later, one of the girls noticed a small red mark on her leg and assumed she’d been hit with a plastic pellet from an air-powered gun. Crime scene investigators later found two plastic pellets near where the incident occurred, Junginger said.

Police reviewed videotape from school security cameras and noticed a vehicle in the area at the same time the girls reported the incident. It was described as a white, extended-cab pickup truck with a person in the bed. It was last seen traveling westbound on Hamilton Avenue toward Magnolia, Junginger said.

“That might or might not be the suspect vehicle,” he said, adding that security camera footage did not show anyone shooting a gun.

Students at Edison High School Thursday said they heard about the incident from their teachers.

“I think it’s crazy -- I can’t believe someone would do that around the school,” said junior Dylan Lucero, 17, of Huntington Beach.

Freshman Sean Stephenson described the shooting as “gnarly” but said he wasn’t too concerned.

People often drive past the school, Stephenson said, but that’s nothing to be afraid of. “If they were using real guns, then I would be scared,” the 14-year-old said.

It is illegal to shoot an air-powered gun within the city limits, Junginger said. And though the air-powered guns shoot plastic pellets, the impact can still hurt.

“They’re going to hurt if they hit you within a close distance,” Junginger said.