As law enforcement and federal agents searched for an armed man in Fullerton one morning last week, students were arriving at the elementary school just around the corner. Campus officials said they were unaware of the threat.
They and members of their tight-knit Orange County community — on edge over recent Immigration and Customs Enforcement raids in the nearby city of Anaheim and school shootings elsewhere — are asking why the school was not warned.
It was early Thursday morning when the Fullerton Police Department received a startling call: A man, described as wearing a white shirt, was seen jumping over fences at the Highland Pinetree Apartment Homes with a handgun. Officers arrived at 6:46 a.m., where they discovered that agents from Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the FBI and Homeland Security Investigations, were also in pursuit, a department official said.
The search that unfolded over the next hour has sparked controversy in the Fullerton community. Residents say that police officers opened the gates for the federal immigration agents to enter the apartment property, which police officials denied. Instead, Fullerton police said that ICE cut the lock to the apartment complex.
Woodcrest Elementary School, meanwhile, was preparing for another school day; students began arriving for their before-school program at 7 a.m., 20 minutes into the search for an armed man.
Chad Hammitt, deputy superintendent of Fullerton School District’s Human Resources Division, said that he found out about the presence of immigration agents near the school from social media. He called Fullerton police at 7:14 a.m. to ask what was happening. Thirty minutes later, he received a call back.
“They told me a suspect was on the loose and that police were holding a perimeter. I didn’t know he was armed,” Hammitt said. “Had we known, we would have put the school on lockdown.”
Hammitt said that students continued to be dropped off as he, the school principal and the assistant principal stood at entry points to keep an eye out. It wasn’t until 9:10 a.m. that teachers, parents and staff found out the suspect was armed, when Fullerton police posted an official statement on their Instagram.
“Why wasn’t the school district notified about a gunman? Why weren’t parents warned?” said Jody Vallejo, a Fullerton parent and professor of sociology at USC. “Children were walking to school, and nobody knew about a possible armed man nearby.”
Fullerton Police Chief Jon Radus said that the station’s community resource officer notified the school district based on the information he had at the time.
“We do our best to be communicative. We were searching for an hour with minimal information on this person,” Radus said. “The officer might not have had all of the information about the suspect when he called. I don’t see why he wouldn’t tell the district if he knew.”
Back at the school, staff and students were unsettled. Fullerton parent Laura Manchester got a call from a teacher who told her that teachers were running into offices panicked.
“She told me that the school relieved the teachers [of teaching duties, bringing in substitute teachers] and brought counselors. The staff was crying,” Manchester said. A situation like this is “a very big deal.”
Hammitt confirmed that staff were “shaken” and that parents were demanding answers.
“Parents asked us, why didn’t we go on lockdown?” Hammitt said. “The key for me is that we’re informed. We can’t have children and families going into a potentially dangerous situation.”
Residents of the Highland Pinetree complex took video of local police walking with immigration agents, which was circulated online along with suggestions that Fullerton police were assisting ICE. The suspicions were published in a statement in a local news outlet, the Fullerton Observer, by a group referring to themselves as “Concerned Parents of Fullerton.”
“What it appeared to be — plainly and unmistakably — was the Fullerton Police Department assisting ICE,” the statement read. “Potentially in violation of California law, while failing to protect a neighborhood and its children from an armed individual.”
The Fullerton Police Department maintains, however, that it does not work with immigration enforcement. Officers were there, officials said, because of reports of a weapon, a possible public safety threat.
“This is a very bad situation for local law enforcement. It put us in a difficult situation. … We don’t want people to think we are serving ICE,” Radus said. “Our response that day had nothing to do with helping ICE and everything to do with finding a person with a gun.”
The Department of Homeland Security did not respond to requests for comment on who the suspect was and whether ICE agents forced the apartment gates open, as police said.
Radus said that Fullerton police are “not obligated” to assist ICE in finding someone unless there is a threat to public safety, which he said is the only reason officers responded and followed agents into the property.
“Our officers were not involved in the search, nor did we open any gates for ICE as people have said. We were only there to hold a perimeter to protect the neighborhood,” Radus said. “Our priority is the safety of our community.”
Radus emphasized that ICE agents cut the locks on the gates of the Highland Pinetree Apartment Homes, not police officers. Residents tell a different story.
Daniela Vazquez arrived at 7:15 at the complex that morning to drop off clothes for her child, who was staying with their grandmother, a resident of the complex.
“That’s when I saw the gate open, all the unmarked vehicles outside the gate, and people inside with unmarked green vests,” Vazquez said.
At that time, she said, the lock was intact.
Vazquez was about to leave for work when she spotted agents entering with their guns drawn. She followed the police officers and agents from a distance, recording to document the activity.
In Vazquez’s video, reviewed by The Times, the agents can be seen slowly scanning the parking lot, making heart-shaped hand gestures in response to residents’ yelling for them to leave.
“You’re scaring our community; you’re scaring our children,” residents call out. “You guys are on private property.”
In another video shared by Vazquez, as a seemingly unarmed neighbor stands yelling, a police officer can be seen placing his hand on his gun. Beside him, another police officer holds an assault rifle.
“As management was kicking the agents out,” Vazquez said, “I heard one of the police officers tell management, ‘You can lock the gate back up now.’ ”
The management of Highland Pinetree Apartment Homes did not respond to questions about the gate lock.
Senate Bill 54, the California Values Act, prohibits local law enforcement agencies from participating in federal immigration enforcement. The bill, which secured California’s “sanctuary state” status, says that, subject to exceptions, local police departments are prohibited from using money or staff to investigate an immigration enforcement case.
“Our goal is to keep the community safe. We work every day to do that,” Radus said. “I’m sorry that parents didn’t feel that they were informed.”
Thursday’s incident, residents say, was “traumatizing” for the community.
“We want to feel protected,” Manchester said. “We didn’t feel protected that day.”
Fullerton police reported that the suspect spotted with a gun was not found after an hour-long search.
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