LOS ANGELES – Police say two suburban high school students had a pair of loaded handguns, a spooky drawing depicting a killing and the intention of randomly shooting people on campus.
The boys, ages 15 and 16, were arrested Thursday before any violence, after the older boy's stepfather contacted West Covina police to say his guns were missing from a gun locker. One student was arrested at home and the other at school.
Police found a Glock .40-caliber handgun, a Smith & Wesson .357-caliber handgun and several rounds of rifle ammunition at the home of the older boy, but no rifle.
Investigators also seized a drawing one of the boys made depicting a hooded figure shooting another character in the head. Underneath the drawing, the word "Exterminate" was written, West Covina police Lt. Ron Mitchell said.
The boys had previously taken the weapons onto the campus of Covina High School three times, and they told investigators they were considering using them, Mitchell said.
"Due to the interviews, we were of the mind that they were, at some point, they were going to randomly shoot people at school," Mitchell said.
Covina and West Covina are neighboring cities about 20 miles east of downtown Los Angeles in the San Gabriel Valley.
Covina High School Principal Claudia Karnoski said she conducted her own investigation. She said the boys had shown the loaded guns to three or four friends who failed to alert teachers, apparently because they didn't want to get into trouble.
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