Wednesday September 25, 2019
Serving the Rio Hondo Community
Volume 59 Issue 1
The new norm. ILLUSTRATION BY ESTEVAN MACIAS / EPM SAMUEL GARCIA News Editor
samuel.garcia8465@my.riohondo.edu
Thursday September 19, Rosemead High School and San Gabriel High School were put on lockdown after law enforcement received calls about potential gunman on campus. A man claimed to be heading to Rosemead High School
armed with an AR-15 rifle. This was after a man called authorities and claimed to have shot his mother. When police responded to the call about the man shooting his mother, they found no shooter, just a confused resident who had no knowledge of the call. As for the Rosemead High call, police swarmed the school and searched the campus for
the alleged shooter. Yesenia Zepeda, a resident of Rosemead, was headed to Encinita Elementary School to pick up her nieces when her sister called her about the situation. “She called me because she got a call from the school saying [Rosemead High] was on lockdown and no one was allowed in or out,” she said. The elementary school is located adjacent to
the high school, so the commotion was visible for all to see. “From the park, I could see police officers with tactical weapons walking around the campus, but the only thing I could hear was the helicopter above. No gunshots, no screaming,” Zepeda added. Some time later, another call was made, claiming that
there was a student armed with a rifle in a San Gabriel High School bathroom. By 3 p.m., all three of the situations were deemed as “swatting”, or in other words prank calls. According to a Senate bill by Congressman Ted Lieu, swatters can be fined as much as $10,000.