Updated: Gun Report Locks Down Wilson High Today

Updated with parent reaction and district comment.

Wilson High School was rife with police activity today, as a report of a non-student with a gun locked down the campus of 4,300 students while four students were arrested for yesterday's attack of a 15-year-old.

Long Beach police said they found neither a gunman nor a weapono in a scouring of the school following the report to the department of "a non-student" on campus with a firearm. The sprawling campus at Seventh Street and Ximeno was locked down--meaning nobody in or out--about 2 p.m. while it was searched by Long Beach Unified School district police.

It was not known whether the two incidents were related and Long Beach Police Department spokeswoman Nancy Pratt said the gun report was still under investigation. The department was not divulging how they received the warning tip Thursday, nor precisely how long the thousands of students were kept on campus.

Parents of students said the police presence on campus was intense Thursday, and some parents were actually on campus in a meeting about trying to improve Wilson's California Standard Test results. Other parents said their teens were not as alarmed as they were.

"It was unnerving to hear," said the mother of a freshman.

The district said earlier in the day that the Wednesday attack on a 15-year-old student by a group of other students near the campus has prompted heightened security, and reassured the public that school remains the safest place to resolved disputes.

Meanwhile, at about 5:30 p.m., the police department issued a press statement about the arrests of Wilson students--three male and one female--as suspects in the after-school attack.

The males were identified as Long Beach residents, two 16 and one 15, who were arrested on suspicion of attempted murder. As juveniles their names were not released by police. The female student, 15, is a Lynwood resident and Wilson student,who was arrested on suspicion of destroying or concealing evidence, Sgt. Rico Fernandez said in a press release.

Police were called at about 2 p.m. Wednesday to the area of East 10th Street and Ximeno on a report of an assault, Fernandez wrote. Officers found a 15-year-old Wilson student laying, assaulted, and he was taken to a hospital with serious but non-fatal injuries.

"The preliminary investigation revealed that the victim, a student at Wilson High School, was confronted by a group of male subjects and words were exchanged.  The group then proceeded to assault the victim before fleeing on foot. The victim had not been involved in an on-campus incident earlier in the day," Fernandez wrote in the e-mailed release.

A report in the Los Angeles Times that broke the story was erroneous as to the attack possibly stemming from a lunchtime conflict on campus.

"A motive for the assault is still under investigation, but detectives believe others may have been involved in the assault and are asking for anyone with information to come forward," Fernandez continued.

At about the same time but today, police said, information was received that a non-student was on the Wilson High campus with a gun, and the school was locked down. It was not known exactly how long the thousands of students were kept on campus. It was the second known . In September, a bomb threat sent the students out on the grassy field while classrooms and other buildings were searched, and no bomb was found.

Some students who were on the Wilson tennis courts apparently could see student combatants gang up on the one 15-year-old, and were frightened, a parent said.

The school district had heightened security today with plans for the same Friday.

 "There were other students in the immediate vicinity. Police and the school district are investigating, and any students involved will receive appropriate discipline," said LBUSD spokesman Chris Eftychiou. "We will not tolerate violence, and students who engage in such activity will face serious consequences ranging up to expulsion and prosecution under the law."

Frightening as the incident was for some parents and students, Eftychiou added:

"School remains one of the safest places for students to be, and we continually teach students to resolve differences without resorting to violence.  We encourage parents to do the same, and an incident like this can serve as a teachable moment.

Police asked that anyone with information should contact Youth Services Detective Amy Garrett at (562) 570-1425.  Anonymous tips may be submitted via text or web by visiting www.tipsoft.com.