LOS ANGELES _ A high school student and an employee were wounded in a shooting near a Van Nuys charter school Thursday afternoon, officials said.
Los Angeles police responded to a call of a shooting on Van Nuys Boulevard near CHAMPS Charter High School of the Arts about 12:10 p.m.
Officials said the shooting occurred between a Starbucks and a Jack in the Box restaurant across the street from the school. Students were put on lockdown as a precaution, LAPD spokesman Sgt. Barry Montgomery said.
Two suspects aged 18 to 20 fled the scene. Police arrested one suspect about an hour and a half after the shooting and found the second suspect about 2:50 p.m.
It is too early in the investigation to determine whether the victims were targeted, Montgomery said.
Anna Hoyos, who owns a business beside Jack in the Box, described a scene of chaos as gunfire erupted.
She said she heard two gunshots and then a woman screaming. At the time, several students were outside during their lunch hour, Hoyos said. She could see them running toward the school, terrified.
"You could see that people were confused," said the owner of Anna's Business Services. "It was really close. I thought it was here."
Hoyos said the school has an outdoor patio that faces the Jack in the Box.
After the gunfire, she said, she saw two people on gurneys being taken from the school grounds.
She said she overheard police say that one suspect was hiding in the apartments behind her business.
