An 18-year-old man was shot and wounded outside a Long Beach school this morning, police said.
The unidentified victim was shot about 11 a.m. near the intersection of Artesia and Long Beach boulevards, said Long Beach Police Department spokeswoman Nancy Pratt. Early indications were that the incident was gang related, she said.
The shooting was reported across the street from Starr King Elementary School, where school authorities placed the campus on lockdown.
Principal Rosana Madrid-Arroyo said several shots were fired outside the school property. Within moments teachers scooped up about 220 children, including 120 kindergartners.
"Teachers went to lockdown immediately," she said. "It's uneasy for the parents because they are scared, but everybody is following directions."
As a precaution, she said, the school will remain on lockdown until early afternoon. Kindergartners and Head Start students were released early. The first- through fifth-graders remaining on campus were having lunch delivered to their classrooms, she said.
andrew.blankstein@latimes.com
