Two Injured As Gunman Fires On Kelly School

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At 12:12 PM today (Friday, October 8, 2010) a man in his early 40s, described by witnesses as “white with short gray hair” drove to Kelly Elementary School (at the corner of Park and Kelly Drive) got out of his car, and began shooting a handgun at children on the playground. He was apprehended minutes later. Two second grade students were injured with non-threatening wounds in their upper extremities and were transported by helicopter to Rady Childrens’ Hospital.

According to a story on NBC San Diego. Local Carlsbadistan big wave surfer and stand up paddler Scott Chandler jumped in with two construction workers to take down the suspect.

He said that he and a couple of construction workers tackled the man. “I believe he ran out of bullets, then ran to a fence, chased by a couple guys,” Chandler said, whose two children both graduated from the school. . . The gunman had a box of bullets in his pants that police recovered and had brought a 5-gallon gas can with him as well. Law enforcement located a propane tank after the shooting and began to use a robot to examine the tank at about 1 p.m. The tank is leaning on a silver four-door American-made sedan — possibly a Crown Victoria — that was blocked off by a black pickup truck and a police patrol car.

Parents began arriving at Laguna Riviera Park around 1 PM not sure what to expect and knowing only what they heard from friends. Many were on the edge of tears. It wasn’t until 1:15 PM that an officer explained to the gathered group that “an armed suspect on the campus has been taken into custody” and that the children we currently locked down. “I’m going to need everybody to by on my side and be as patient and calm as you can,” he said. “And trust us that we are trying to make everything safe so that we can get everyone to you as quickly as we can.

As we mentioned before it wasn’t until 2:35 PM that the first students began exiting the school.

Click the link for the rest of the NBC story, or click here for a photo gallery.