A student at Philip and Sala Burton Academic High School was shot in the leg at around noon on Tuesday.
The victim, police confirmed, was taken to a nearby hospital and is in stable condition, and a suspect was arrested.
At a press conference held at the school in the afternoon, Bayview Station Captain Bernadette Robinson and San Francisco Unified School District Superintendent Maria Su reassured San Franciscans that there was no threat to the public.
Police confirmed that the suspect was a minor, but did not say whether he was a student at the school or had a prior relationship with the victim.
The alleged shooter fled the scene before he was caught by officers who responded to a 911 call. Burton High School does not have metal detectors or search students’ bags, and it is unknown whether the school plans to implement additional security measures in the future.
A spokesperson for SFUSD said that additional wellness support was made available for students at Burton, which is located in southeast San Francisco on Mansell Street near McLaren Park.
After the suspect was taken into custody and the victim was taken to the hospital, the school day continued as planned.
“I understand how things like this can be scary,” said Su. “But I’m proud of students for remaining calm.”
Students let out at the end of the school day piled through the gates, chatting with each other and gawking at the TV cameras outside.
“Come on, let’s go,” said school staff, herding students lingering by the school gates into waiting school buses.
Aileen, 15, was leaving campus for lunch when she received a notification that a shooting had occurred on campus on via the Citizen app on her phone, which monitors public 911 data and sends out location-based alerts.
Before she could leave, a group of teachers ushered her and several other students into a classroom, and locked the door.
Crowded into the classroom, Aileen wondered if the notification was real; she and her classmates had been through countless on-campus shooting drills. A few of the teenagers began to crack jokes, and one of the teachers started yelling at them.
“That’s when we knew it was serious,” said Aileen.
“I’m scared,” she continued. “I don’t want to come to school tomorrow.”
Nearby, other students giggled to each other, plotting how to photobomb the TV cameras.
Lauren, 15, watched a news team set up cameras as she waited for her mother to pick her up from school. She was waiting in line for lunch, when she, too, was rushed into a classroom, she said.
While she and her friends waited inside, her aunt and grandmother, who heard about the shooting on the news, began to text her phone, praying for her safety.
By 4 p.m., the campus was silent, and mostly empty — after-school clubs and sports practice had been canceled for the day. A parent, standing nearby as his daughter chatted excitedly with Lauren and Aileen, said that he had learned about the shooting from a school-wide text sent to parents and guardians.
Considering the number of school shootings that occur throughout the country, he said, he was “not surprised” that one happened near his daughter. Still, he said, when he finally heard her voice, he breathed a huge sigh of relief.
“All we can do,” he said, with a shrug, “is hope for the best.”
In a statement, Supervisor Jackie Fielder, who first reported the shooting in a press release, wrote, “I am deeply grateful for the quick response and actions of SFPD, Burton staff, and teachers to secure the premises. Every child deserves to feel safe at school and in their communities. We can never accept senseless violence that disrupts any student’s well-being and pursuit of their education.”
This is a developing story, and will be updated as new information becomes available.
I taught 3 years at Viz.Middle School, and graduation got so big, that we used the auditorium at Burton. One reason, is that parents don’t expect their kids to live past a certain age, so they invite relatives from Texas, ect.One year a student, was not permitted to participant in the graduation, due to his behavior, so he set the grass on fire behind the school, which caused,not only an evacuation of Burton, but two other schools as well as the entire neighborhood. He was caught because he made a terrorist call from his grannies house.
That’s exactly what happens when progressives refuse to strengthen laws and actually prosecute criminals.
Lisa —
I’m sorry, are you blaming school shootings, a nationwide phenomenon, on progressive legislators in San Francisco, a city-county in California? Do I have that right?
Best,
JE
yes, a child with a gun shooting another child is definately due to the children not being put in prison more often. Oddly enough, we have practically zero school shooting compared to ANY conservative run city. Amazing how the power of progressives to affect them have run across the country and caused red states to become the most dangerous and impoverished states in the country.
the utter stupidity of republicans is truly astounding. Maybe you should go live in one of your war zone cities and escape the scary progressives here in SF