2 10-Year-Olds Burned After Breaking Into School Locker

Two unidentified 10-year-old boys were burned, one critically, after they broke into a locker at Locke High School in Watts on Saturday in an apparent attempt to steal tennis balls, police said.

One boy suffered second- and third-degree burns to 60% of his body and was taken to Martin Luther King Jr./Drew Medical Center, where he was reported in critical condition, said Fire Department spokesman Brian Humphrey. The other boy suffered flash burns to his face.

Initially, the boys told paramedics that they had been forced by other boys into an electrical vault at the high school and were burned in the process. Later, officers from the Los Angeles Police Department’s Southeast station reported that the boys changed their story and admitted that they broke into a locker.

One boy, officers said, was burned as he reached for some tennis balls and instead touched a hidden electrical box. Electrical particles hit the second boy in the face, officers said.

Humphrey said the critically injured boy will probably be transferred to the burn ward at County-USC Medical Center.