A 15-year-old
who boy was shot and wounded in an Oxnard,
Calif., junior high school computer lab Tuesday was
declared brain-dead on Wednesday at 2:30 p.m.,
according to the Associated Press. The Oxnard
medical examiner said Lawrence King was declared
brain-dead by two neurosurgeons and is clinically dead but
remains on a ventilator for possible organ donation.
After the
shooting Tuesday, worried parents gathered outside the
1,150-student E.O. Green Junior High School, which was
locked down. Students were released classroom by
classroom.
The alleged
attacker, another eighth-grader, was taken into custody,
authorities said.
King had
improved since arriving at St. John's Regional Medical
Center in extremely serious condition, police spokesman
David Keith said. He was initially classified as being
in critical condition upon arrival. However, as school
let out at 3 p.m. Wednesday, students learned about
his updated condition.
The 14-year-old
suspect was being booked for investigation of attempted
murder, Oxnard police chief John Crombach said.
The victim was a
constant target for other boys, as he would reportedly
wear women's jewelry and makeup and had declared
himself gay, according to the Los Angeles
Times. Investigators have not verified if the boy
is indeed gay.
The shooting
occurred near the end of the first period, during an English
class that had moved from a classroom to the computer lab,
said Jerry Dannenberg, superintendent of the Hueneme
School District. Dannenberg said 22 other students
were in the lab at the time.
The one-story
campus, which includes grades six though eight, does not
have metal detectors.
''I still think
the school is safer than any other place in society,''
Dannenberg said.
Keith said 40
officers arrived within minutes of getting calls of a
shooting. The victim was found on the ground, and the
suspect was apprehended a few blocks away, Keith said.
There was a dispute between the boys but it was
premature to state a motive, Keith said. ''This
appears to be personal in nature, some bad blood between
them. It was not random,'' he said.
Keith said the
weapon was a handgun but he did not know how many shots
were fired.
''This kind of
incident is the most difficult for police officers,''
Keith said. ''A 15-year-old should be allowed to go to
school and be in a safe environment, but this sort of
thing happens all over the country.''
The school is in
south Oxnard near a Navy base at Port Hueneme in Ventura
County, northwest of Los Angeles. (AP)
