UNINTENTIONAL

12-Year-Old Los Angeles School Shooter Thought Her Gun Was Fake

“I guess someone was accidentally playing around with it,” classmate said.

The 12-year-old girl held for the shooting at her Los Angeles middle school on Thursday believed the gun she was wielding was a fake and did not intentionally injure the five people hit during the incident, the Los Angeles Police Department said. Two of those injuries are believed to be significant. Officials called the handling of the firearm “negligent.” A boy who was shot in the temple is expected to recover because the bullet did not hit any vital parts of his head. ​“Someone decided to bring a gun, I guess someone was accidentally playing around with it,” a 12-year-old boy, whose guardian asked that his last name not be used, told the Los Angeles Times. “They thought it was a fake gun.” The gunfire erupted shortly after the school’s morning bell was rung and caused a panic in the city’s Westlake neighborhood.