Panicked parents and a teacher called Morgan Hill Police Monday
afternoon just before 5 p.m., saying that four men with assault
weapons, handguns and wearing black masks were approaching
youngsters about to start baseball practice in Jackson Park
adjacent to an elementary school.
Panicked parents and a teacher called Morgan Hill Police Monday afternoon just before 5 p.m., saying that four men with assault weapons, handguns and wearing black masks were approaching youngsters about to start baseball practice in Jackson Park adjacent to an elementary school.
The boys were playing commando, said Lt. Joe Sampson, and told police they were having a good time.
“Initially they thought it was a bit of a joke,” he said, “but panicked when officers arrived and tried to get away.”
Police, however, initially thought the teens were trying to get into position to shoot at the field full of baseball-playing children.
Within 15 minutes, four teenage males, 13- to 16-years old, were in custody and police had possession of an arsenal of replica weapons. No one was hurt, but it was a close call.
“They were just a trigger pull away from being shot,” said Sampson, who was at the scene.
“If they had made a false move or threatened anyone, then the officer is in a situation we never want to find ourselves in,” he said, suggesting that the teenagers could well have been injured or killed.
Four patrol officers plus Bruce Cumming, interim chief of police, and Sampson, sped to the park and ordered the four with guns and masks to the ground. Two boys took cover in nearby brush west of the park; two others fled toward the school playground, Sampson said.
Officer Rick Vestal noticed one gun had a white plastic handle, not usually found on real firearms.
“He notified the others and probably saved some lives,” Sampson said. “It took great discipline for the officers to hold their fire until the last possible moment but there were children in the background.”
If there had been a firefight, Sampson said, people would have been injured or killed. He wants the public to know that, even though the boys thought it was a game, police had no way of knowing that and their first job is to protect the public.
Sampson said the guns appeared to be a black assault rifle, a black semi automatic handgun, a chrome and black semi automatic handgun and a white pistol.
Sheila Martinez pulled up in front of the school to pick up her 6-year old son at the YMCA center just before 5 p.m.
“I knew they were kids but I remembered Columbine,” Martinez said. “It was very scary, the way they looked at me.”
Martinez ran inside the YMCA building and, with a teacher, got the children on the floor as far away as possible from the door but she kept watching through the window.
All four boys were taken into custody without incident, cited for possession of replica firearms and for felony possession of replica firearms on school grounds. They were released to their parents at the station; the guns were confiscated as evidence.
Sampson said the parents had knowingly bought the guns for their sons and several wanted the guns returned.
“It’s not a game for us,” Sampson said. “Everyone who puts on a uniform wants to go home at the end of the day, and thankful that they didn’t have to shoot someone.”
Martinez said she worries that the boys will keep on doing this unless their parents get involved.
The Columbine High School incident, in which two Littleton, Colo., teenagers with assault weapons gunned down 12 classmates and a teacher, passed its fifth anniversary a week ago yesterday. Parents, teachers and school administrators across the country have spent years trying to avoid a recurrence with counseling and education.
Sampson said Tuesday that, if there is one lesson to take away from Monday’s incident it is to treat these replica guns with respect if you have to have them around at all. Don’t point guns – real or not – at the general public and never point them at police.
“Parents, educate your children about these things,” Sampson said.
