Los Angeles police officers have arrested two teenage boys, both of them high school students, on suspicion of taking part in shooting a 17-year-old student in the leg just outside the Santee Education Complex in South Los Angeles earlier this month, authorities said.
The suspected shooter and a co-conspirator, aged between 16 and 17, were arrested around 10:40 p.m. Friday, Sept. 10, after gang-enforcement officers with the Los Angeles Police Department identified them through surveillance-camera footage and social media postings, LAPD and Los Angeles School Police said.
The suspected shooter was identified as a student at a nearby LAUSD high school in South Los Angeles, while the alleged co-conspirator is a Santee student, said Sgt. Rudy Perez, spokesman for LA School Police.
Detectives with LAPD’s Newton Division also searched a home tied to one of the teens, police said.
On the afternoon of Sept. 2, two fights broke out just off of campus, Perez said. The victim, a Santee student, was in one of those fights with another Santee student, at which point another individual walked up to the fight and fired, striking the 17-year-old in the upper leg.
The Santee student was transported to a local hospital with non-life-threatening injuries.
A video of the fight posted to social media helped investigators identify both the student fighting with the victim and the boy who fired, Perez said.
Though authorities did not release a motive in the shooting, Perez said the incident may have been related to gangs within the South Los Angeles high schools.
“I think it’s more a gang tensions issue within the schools,” he said.
Both minors are being held at Eastlake Juvenile Hall as prosecutors review the case.
