Student discharged assault rifle on Chino police motorcycle at school
Three students at a Chino elementary school were injured Wednesday after a student discharged an assault rifle mounted on a police motorcycle that was on display, an official said.
The AR-15 assault rifle was mounted on the motorcycle that was on display during a drug prevention event, said Tamrin Olden, a spokeswoman for the Chino Police Department.
“The rifle was … secured in the mount on the motorcycle during the incident,” Olden said at an evening news conference. “The child did approach the mounted rifle.”
The students -- whose ages were not immediately known -- suffered minor injuries, Olden said. None were hit by gunfire. Two were likely struck by metal debris, resulting in “extremely minor injuries,” she said.
She described the weapon as an AR-15 that was locked onto the bike. They were investigating how the weapon discharged and she said “there are several fail-safes in place” to prevent a discharge.
They had not determined how the weapon was fired, she said.
Two students were taken to an area hospital with non-life-threatening injuries, said Chino Valley Fire District spokeswoman Massiel Ladrón De Guevara.
The third student’s parents arrived at the school and declined to transport the child, she said.
Additional information about their injuries was unavailable.
“We’re still sorting out the extent of the injuries and how it happened,” Olden said earlier in the day.
Law enforcement officials were at Newman Elementary School for activities related to the nationwide drug-prevention campaign when the weapon was discharged during a demonstration, according to a statement from Chino Valley Unified School District.
Olden said the incident occurred about 11:15 a.m.
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