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U.S. NEWS Thursday 15 March 2018

Mother: Class continued after teacher fired gun, injuring 3

side a classroom, injuring called a nurse or a para- Gonzales said the incident
three students, but contin- medic to come check on in Seaside happened Tues-
ued teaching class while the students," Gonzales day at 10:30 a.m. and that
the students sat there, the said. she did not hear about
mother of one of the stu- "They just sat there until the it until her son called her
dents said Wednesday. bell rang." hours later when the class
Dennis Alexander, who is The accidental shooting ended and he went to a
also a reserve police offi- came amid a national de- relative's home.
cer, was pointing the gun bate over whether to arm Alexander was teaching a
at the ceiling to make sure teachers in the aftermath gun safety lesson in an ad-
it was not loaded when the of a mass school shooting ministration of justice class
weapon discharged Tues- at Marjory Stoneman Doug- and was about to show
day inside his classroom at las High School in Parkland, the students how to disarm
Seaside High School in the Florida, that killed 17 stu- someone, Gonzales said.
coastal community of Sea- dents and staff members. She said no officials con-
side, police said. On Wednesday, thousands tacted parents to let them
The Seaside Police Depart- of high school students know what happened and
ment said no one sustained walked out of classrooms that she was shocked when
serious injuries. across the nation to protest her son returned home with
Fermin Gonzales, 17, suf- gun violence in schools. blood on his shirt and bul-
fered moderate injuries A law that took effect in let fragments in his neck.
when bullet fragments California on Jan. 1 halted As the boy's parents rushed
lodged in his neck, his the ability of school districts him to a hospital for X-rays,
In this 2010 photo, Seaside City Council member Dennis Alexan- mother Crystal Gonzales, to allow non-security em- she said the school's princi-
der poses during an election forum in Seaside, Calif. told The Associated Press. ployees to carry guns on pal called her cellphone to
(David Royal/ Monterey Herald/AP)
"I'm still really upset no one campus. apologize.q
SEASIDE, Calif. (AP) — A California high school ac-
teacher at a Northern cidentally fired his gun in-

Police: Report of shots fired on

Northwestern campus a hoax

EVANSTON, Ill. (AP) — A been shot was later locat-
report of a gunman at a ed unharmed.
Northwestern University resi- Police said the call came
dence hall and shots fired from an area southeast of
was a hoax, a suburban Rockford, about 70 miles
Chicago police official said northwest of Evanston. The
Wednesday. apartment that police re-
Evanston Police Cmdr. sponded to Wednesday
Ryan Glew said a call to had been vacant since
police reporting shots fired around Thanksgiving.
at Engelhart Hall, a gradu- Such "swatting" calls can
ate student residence, was be dangerous. In Decem-
a "swatting" hoax. The term ber, Wichita, Kansas, police
describes when someone officers who responded to
calls in a false report in the such a hoax call fatally shot
hopes of prompting a SWAT a man as he answered his
team to respond. door. The alert at North-
Heavily armed Evanston western came shortly after
police and university po- hundreds of university stu-
lice officers rushed to the dents participated in the
dormitory, and the call National School Walkout.
prompted Northwestern to The students gathered to
urge people in the area to support calls for tighter
"shelter in a safe place and regulations on guns sales
stay until further notice." in the wake of the shooting
Glew said the student who at a Parkland, Florida, high
the caller reported had school that left 17 dead.q