Garden Grove Shooting: Schools On Lockdown After Gunshots In Neighborhood [Breaking]
Update: The Garden Grove shooting turned out to be nothing of the sort. Carlos Villanueva, 27, was eventually arrested while attempting to flee from authorities. Law enforcement had surrounded the home he had re-entered after firing the shots that initially worried locals.
Others exiting the house refused to co-operate with investigators on the scene. He was taken in on “suspicion of discharging a firearm in a negligent manner, assault with a deadly weapon/firearm and criminal threats.” As of now, there’s no evidence he planned any sort of violent action; and thus, “Garden Grove shooting” appears to have been more of a scare than anything else.
Man suspected of firing shotgun in Garden Grove, prompting school lockdowns, in custody https://t.co/jfCjuBw45K pic.twitter.com/Y75kOR0h0T
— KTLA (@KTLA) December 10, 2015
Reports of a Garden Grove shooting put seven local schools on lockdown this morning according to local law enforcement.
#BreakingNews https://t.co/ON38KonLuP Several Garden Grove, Calif., schools on modified lockdown after shots fire… https://t.co/5n4hUsewLy
— anti-inertia (@antiinertia) December 10, 2015
Ernest O. Lawrence, Stanford, Louis G. Zeyen, and Faylane elementary schools; Our Redeemer Pre-School; Rancho Alamitos High School and Alamitos Intermediate were all put on lockdown following the reports of shots fired in Garden Grove.
The call first came out around 8:40 a.m. Classes have since returned to normal scheduling, and even when the Garden Grove lockdown was in effect, it was a modified one: meaning students could still move within the school building, just not travel outside its walls.
UPDATE: Garden Grove PD has deployed officers to Rancho Alamitos HS, Alamitos Intermediate, Lawrence, Stanford, Zeyen, Faylane Elementaries
— FOX 11 Los Angeles (@myfoxla) December 10, 2015
ABC 7 reported that an unnamed suspect shot into the air multiple times in Garden Grove at Blanche Avenue east of Dale Street before walking away carrying a shotgun. Thus far, no injuries have been reported.
Garden Grove police probe possible shooting near schools Read more: https://t.co/R5oN0hF9wA pic.twitter.com/UtGfMo4nEY
— KFI AM 640 (@KFIAM640) December 10, 2015
Authorities are now saying that it appears that there was no kind of mass shooting involved in the Garden Grove incident, thought they still have not revealed where the problem may have originated. A suspect is, however, in custody, according to tweets from local Garden Grove media.
Garden Grove update: suspect in custody, no injuries. All lockdowns lifted per @GardenGrovePD
— Julie Sone (@ABC7JulieSone) December 10, 2015
Details have not yet been revealed of the nature of the gunshots, although police are confident that there is no longer a threat to the area. Parents of students who attended the schools that were put on lockdown in the Garden Grove area expressed their relief on social media.
Garden Grove schools off lockdown. Parents can breathe. Until the next one. Dammit!
— Karen Hohman Almeida (@krinhoh) December 10, 2015
Garden Grove is a city in Orange County to the south of Los Angeles, about 36 miles south of the city. Given Los Angeles’ long-time problem with gang activity, shootings aren’t necessarily anything new for the area; but a nationwide panic when a scare like this happens is telling of how much mass shootings have managed to rile up Americans.