Posted on 10/14/2006 5:08:18 PM PDT by hedgetrimmer
Bottles, rocks and fists flew during lunchtime Friday at Fontana High School. Students poured out of classrooms when they said a fire alarm rang around noon. They then saw what they described as a racial or gang-related riot erupting among about 500 students on the quad of the campus near Citrus Avenue.
Some flocked to the chaotic melee with their cell phones taking pictures and recording video while others fled to get out of the way. Helicopters circled over the school.
"There were fights everywhere - girls and guys," said Dalila Lizarraga, 16.
Campus police officers sprinted across four lanes of traffic on Citrus to the high school from the Fontana Unified School District offices when they got the call about a disturbance.
The fight initially started when one black student and one Latino student exchanged words, taunting each other during a pep rally on campus, said Fontana police Sgt. Doug Wagner. It then became physical.
"After the two students started fighting, additional students of the same races joined in," Wagner said. "At one point, a Samoan group joined in the fight, and that is when it got out of control."
Wagner said he did not think the fight was gang-related.
More than 100 law-enforcement officers from different agencies, including the Fontana Police Department, San Bernardino County Sheriff's Department and members of the Fontana police SWAT team converged on the campus and pried students apart.
At least six students were arrested, Wagner said.
"Two of them were charged with assault with a deadly weapon, meaning rocks," he said. "And the rest of the charges were for resisting arrest."
Sophomore Abigail Orozco said the fight was the biggest one yet at the school.
"It's Friday the 13th, so maybe that's why," she said.
But students say fights are common on school grounds.
"It all started with blacks versus Mexicans, as always," said.
But this fight quickly escalated to a big brawl with about 500 of the campus' 4,100 students involved.
"I was nervous because I've never seen this before," Abigail said.
Samantha Dorgey, 16, said confrontations at the school lead to fights about once a week, but nothing of this size.
"At first, I thought, `Oh, it's another fight,' but then I saw the cops, and damn," she said.
It was the same reaction junior Roger Nelson had. He rushed over to the fight during lunch when it broke out.
"I thought it was just going to be another school fight. I didn't think it was going to escalate with helicopters flying over," he said.
Samantha said she was waiting for the bell to ring shortly before noon when she heard the fire alarm and went outside. She saw people running and yelling outside for about 20 minutes before being told to go back to class. After going back inside the classroom, her teacher dismissed the class, telling students to go home.
Half an hour after the fight started, the students were moved off campus in hopes that the riot would calm down.
Police blocked off streets around the high school to the north and south on Citrus from Randall Avenue to San Bernardino Avenue, Wagner said.
At one point a group of students took to the street on Citrus, running south toward armed police units.
Although the crowd was moved, the fight continued and smaller fights broke out in front of the school.
"I don't feel like we had complete control of the situation until about 1:30 p.m. - about an hour and a half after it started," Wagner said.
The riot became so serious that police officers fired bean bag rounds and released sting balls, which dispersed hundreds of rubber pellets into a crowd. Some students retaliated, throwing rocks and plastic and glass bottles at officers.
Student Jorge Caluillo said he tried to get out of the way of the fight.
"I didn't want to get arrested, so I left," he said.
Students who were involved are subject to expulsion pending an investigation, said Jane Smith, Fontana Unified School District superintendent.
"The good news is no one was hurt," she said.
The high school was put on lockdown - as were Citrus Elementary School and Truman Middle School - as a precaution in case students ran over to those campuses, she said.
Also, Friday's football game was canceled.
"It's really a very small number of kids who caused this kind of tension," Smith said.
Students called their parents to pick them up, and word spread quickly about the fight.
Rachel Munguia was at work when she got a call from a relative that something was happening at her daughter's high school. She immediately headed there.
"I thought something bad happened," she said as she picked up her daughter.
She arrived at the school and saw helicopters flying overhead and expected the worst - a school shooting.
"We've never seen that at the high school," she said about the helicopters.
She said the campus is unsafe, even pointing to the lack of metal detectors.
"It's not safe here at this school. You never know if they're carrying a gun," she said.
This weekend, administrators will work on putting together a plan for Monday when school will be in session, which will include greater security, Smith said.
"When Monday comes, we're going to be well-prepared," she said.
The group will discuss the incident, how it happened, their response and what to do in the future, she said.
Smith said she wants to bring in community leaders to help deal with student conflicts. Also, students who are inclined to start these fights should be placed in alternative programs and taken off campuses as large as Fontana High School, she said.
"Parents can be assured they can send their kids to school, and they will be safe," Smith said.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- BY THE NUMBERS 500 | Approximate number of students involved in the Fontana High School riot
6 | Number of students arrested for assault with a deadly weapon and resisting arrest
4,100 | Number of students attending Fontana High
0 | Number of people with serious injuries
100+ | Number of law-enforcement officers who responded to the school
7 | Minimum number of law-enforcement agencies that responded
8 | Number of campus police officers in the first unit to arrive on scene
12:03 p.m. | Time Fontana police were called
1:30 p.m. | Time police said everything was under control
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- RIOTS AND FIGHTS AT SAN BERNARDINO COUNTY SCHOOLS FEBRUARY 2006
A.B. MILLER HIGH SCHOOL, FONTANA
About 30 students fight in the outdoor quad, punching each other and throwing bottles and food around the area. More than 20 students are detained for disturbing the peace and fighting, which started because of racial tensions between black and Latino students, witnesses said.
OCTOBER 2005
REDLANDS HIGH SCHOOL
A fight between two students, one Latino and one black, culminates in several students fighting with school officials. It ends after police use pepper spray on one student who struggled against them. Three students are suspended.
OCTOBER 2005
BLOOMINGTON HIGH SCHOOL
Fights erupt and prompt a campus lockdown and the cancellation of the day's after-school activities.
SEPTEMBER 2005
PACIFIC HIGH SCHOOL,
SAN BERNARDINO
About a dozen students are arrested after brawls that police say stemmed from a dispute between an interracial couple.
DECEMBER 2004
WILMER AMINA CARTER
HIGH SCHOOL, RIALTO
Large fights erupt on two days. Hundreds of mostly Latino and black students charge at one another during lunch, and 57 students are treated for minor injuries. School is canceled for the rest of the week.
JANUARY 2003
SILVERADO HIGH SCHOOL, VICTORVILLE
About 20 Latino and black students hurl bottles and food at each other and attack sheriff's deputies before eight of the students are arrested and cited. Deputies use pepper spray to quell the outbreak, which started because of racial tension that had been brewing for weeks off campus.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- BY THE NUMBERS 500 | Approximate number of students involved in the Fontana High School riot
6 | Number of students arrested for assault with a deadly weapon and resisting arrest
4,100 | Number of students attending Fontana High
And I thought "Kill Haole Day" was just a Hawaii thing.
Who's side was the Samoan on?
My sister works at a suburban school in Indianapolis and she says they are just riding on the edge of this same Black/Hispanic thing.
"Would it follow that California is NOT America?"
No.
A few links...the Chicago Sun has photos but you need to register to view. Of course, you might not want to see them either. I was shocked, but then, I was also shocked to find out that we allow illegal immigrants to join our military.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1624518/posts
Gangs claim their turf in Iraq
http://www.military.com/NewsContent/0,13319,96056,00.html
FBI Probes Military Gangs
http://abclocal.go.com/wtvd/story?section=local&id=4140211
Military-Trained Gang Members Worry Police
Bookmarking to read the rest later. Thank you. (I think) :o)
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