Another School Shooting in San Diego Area
March 22 -- Gunfire erupted today at a high school in a San Diego suburb, leaving six people, including the alleged gunman, wounded, police said.
Police said the suspect, identified as 18-year-old student Jason Hoffman, was wounded and taken into custody after exchanging gunfire with police near an administration building at Granite Hills High School. Authorities said Hoffman shot three students and two teachers as they were returning to class from a lunch period.
According to El Cajon Police Chief James Davis, the shots rang out at around 12:54 p.m. local time. A school resource officer and sheriff's deputy investigating another unrelated incident heard the shots and confronted Hoffman.
Police say the suspect fired at the officers and missed, hitting a police car. However, the officers didn't and Hoffman was taken to Sharp Memorial Hospital with bullet wounds to his face and buttocks. After having surgery, hospital officials said he is in stable condition.
Police Capt. Bill McClure said the suspect had not made a statement and that authorities had no clues about a possible motive.
Hospital officials said the five suffered pellet wound injuries that were not life-threatening. Several other people, hospital and police officials said, suffered injuries from flying glass or complained of chest pains or shortness of breath from the stress of the shooting. One woman even reportedly went into labor as she tried to check on the status of her child, a student at the high school.
Granger Ward, superintendent of Grossmont Union High School District, said he believed Granite Hills High School would be closed Friday so teachers, students and parents could recover and seek counseling for the second school shooting to shake the San Diego area this month.
‘It Sounded Like an Explosion’
As the shooting began, the high school went into immediate lockdown so that students would not be in the path of gunfire, school officials said. Then, officials evacuated the classrooms one-by-one and instructed students to go to a nearby park to meet their parents.
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