Oakland police said the shooting happened about 1:30 p.m. at the school in the Sobrante Park neighborhood on Monday. Few details were immediately available. KTVU reported that a 12-year-old suspect was arrested, citing information from sheriff’s deputies. At a press conference to discuss a weekend of violence in Oakland, Police Chief LeRonne Armstrong confirmed the school shooting and said two students were involved. He said the student who was shot is in stable condition. Armstrong denounced the spread of gun violence in high schools. “Unfortunately, gun violence has also affected our schools,” he said. “This affects every area of our city.” Armstrong said the cause of the shooting is unclear and police are investigating. The school was evacuated after the shooting and placed on lockdown. More than 100 parents went to the school to get information and pick up their children. Alameda County Sheriff’s Office deputies assisted in the reconnections, said Sgt. Ray Kelly, and the scene remained peaceful. “The parents were very kind, very calm and understanding, very cooperative,” he said. “It wasn’t a chaotic scene.” Oakland City Councilwoman Treva Reid, whose district includes the school, said she rushed to Madison Park Academy after receiving a call from an area police chief about the shooting around 2 p.m. “I’m outraged,” she said, standing outside the school. She said she came to the school to try to find out what happened and to provide support to students, teachers and school staff. Shortly after 4pm, the school grounds were clear of students and parents. Campus teachers and staff headed to a meeting. On Monday night, the Oakland Education Association released a statement expressing the teachers’ sentiments and calling on OUSD to listen to the community’s concerns about school safety. “Educators are shocked, saddened, horrified and stressed after today’s school shooting at Madison Park Academy that injured one student,” said OEA President Keith Brown. “Our public schools should be safe havens for students, free from the fear of gun violence. Every student, no matter where they live or go to school, deserves to feel safe, valued, engaged, challenged and healthy in their classrooms and communities.” Mayor Libby Schaff called the latest incident of gun violence “heartbreaking and unacceptable” in a tweet Monday. “As a mother and mayor, I am relieved that the young victim in Madison is in stable condition and a suspect has been arrested,” she tweeted. “We will hold accountable those who cause harm in Oakland and come together to heal these traumatic events.” Oakland Unified School District spokesman John Sasaki said any further information would have to come from the Oakland Police Department. He said the school district may issue a statement later. Armstrong called on parents and the community to help keep guns away from children. “It saddens me to think that a kid would bring a gun to school and that gun would obviously go off and hit another student on campus,” he said. “There are too many guns on our streets. And it’s only a matter of time before such incidents happen. We need to do better when parents see firearms, family, relatives, friends see firearms, they need to call us. They must be removed. We need to get these firearms out of the hands of these kids.” Joel Umanzor, Jessica Flores and Michael Cabanatuan are San Francisco Chronicle staff writers. Email: [email protected], [email protected] and [email protected] Twitter: @jesssmflores @ctuan
