Police say this was a dispute between two students that escalated into a school shooting.
Inside St. John's Regional Medical Center, 15-year-old Lawrence King was listed in critical condition Tuesday night. The 8th-grader was shot Tuesday morning inside a classroom at E.O. Green Junior High School in Oxnard.
"The officers were able to get a little bit of information from a couple of witnesses to it," said David Keith, Community Affairs Manager, Oxnard Police Dept. "They described the individual and said that he had fled the classroom, so we were able to go off campus and find him within a few minutes."
The middle school was immediately locked down and students said they were told very little about the shooting.
"We started getting all scared, and we just started continuing with our work to get our minds off," said student Cesar Mendez.
After being locked down for several hours, students were finally allowed to go home. Nervous parents were finally able to pick them up. Some waited for hours.
"Pretty traumatic, I mean this is horrible," said parent Martha Mayorga. "You would just never think it would happen at your kid's school."
"They called me at work and told me what had happened at school, and it just freaked me out," said parent Nicholas Cortez.
Lawrence King's brother told Eyewitness News that Lawrence's condition is touch and go because it is a head wound. The next 24 hours are critical.
The 15-year-old gunman remains in police custody.
E.O. Green Junior High School is in the Hueneme School District.
Eyewitness News reported during our 11 a.m. broadcast that the student died of his injuries. Authorities continue to say that the boy is in serious condition in intensive care at St. John's Regional Medical Center in Ventura County.
