Officers shot a Lincoln High School student with a beanbag round after he reached for a firearm in his waistband Tuesday afternoon, the San Diego Police Department confirmed. The student was taken into custody and no one else was injured.
The 16-year-old student was contacted by school staff after they learned he had dropped a loaded magazine somewhere on campus, according to SDPD Lt. Adam Sharki. Staff members then took him to the school's office, Lt. Sharki said.
Police were called at around 2:30 p.m. and the San Diego Unified School District Police Department responded first and called SDPD for assistance. The building was evacuated and the campus was placed on lockdown, according to the school district.
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School staff told police that while they were in the office with the student, he indicated that he had a gun in his possession. When he became agitated with staff, they left him in a room by himself, according to Lt. Sharki.
SDUSDPD and SDPD officers, including a SWAT team, arrived and made contact with the student and fired at least one beanbag round at him after he reached toward his waistband, Lt. Sharki said.
The student was hit once, and he never fired any shots from his weapon before he was taken into custody, according to Sharki.
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Police determined the student's weapon was a "ghost gun," an illegal untraceable firearm that is available online and can be assembled at home
SkyRanger 7 flew over the campus and saw police take the student out of a squad car, put him on a gurney and load him into an ambulance.
The lockdown was lifted at around 3:50 p.m. and students were dismissed. Counselors will be available on campus this week, the district said.
SDUSDPD and SDPD's Juvenile Services Team are handling the investigation, according to Sharki. The teen hasn't been formally charged, but Sharki said he will likely face possession of a ghost gun, possession of a loaded magazine and possession of a firearm on a school campus.
Lincoln High junior Alejandro Ventura had a sobering reaction to what happened at his school on Tusday.
"It's like every other school. There are incidents, there are guns. It's a new world and you've got to get used to living in it. It sucks, but it is what it is," he said.
Carolyn Coleman, the grandmother of a Lincoln High student, said Tuesday's incident on campus bothered her.
"It bothers me, but not for my granddaughter, there's a lot of other innocent kids that have nothing to do with it. They end up getting hurt or caught up in this whole situation," she said.
Lincoln High School is located at Imperial Avenue and South Willie James Jones Avenue in San Diego's Lincoln Park neighborhood.
