School police officer shot in LA

A Los Angeles school police officer was shot in the back at a intersection near several schools Wednesday, one day after two students were shot when a gun went off inside a backpack, school officials said.

The officer was wearing a bullet-proof vest when he was shot just before noon Wednesday, Robert Alaniz, spokesman for the Los Angeles Unified School District, told local media.

The injured officer, who works at the El Camino Real High School in Woodland Hills, a suburb north of Los Angeles, was in fair condition at a local hospital. School officials did not release his name.

The shooting happened near El Camino High, which along with several nearby schools was put on lockdown while police searched for the unknown gunman.

A message on the school's website told parents: "Please do not come to ECR to pick up your children. The incident happened off-campus and the lockdown mode is a standard precaution to secure the campus. All the students are fine and safe."

The shooting took place just hours after parents and officials at Gardena High School, south of central Los Angeles, held a meeting to discuss a shooting at that school on Tuesday.

Two 15-year-old students were shot inside a classroom when a student placed down his backpack, which contained a gun, school principal Rudy Mendoza said in a letter to parents Wednesday.

"It appears the gun discharged accidentally and struck two students," Mendoza wrote.

A female student was shot in the head and a boy wounded in the neck, and were being treated at a local hospital. A 17-year-old student is in police custody.

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