Parents say they were not alerted about shooting at Oakland school

Parents say they weren't notified of school shooting until hours later

Some parents said school officials didn't know them of a shooting at Madison Park Academy until hours after the incident.

OAKLAND, Calif. - Parents at Madison Park Academy in Oakland said they were left in the dark following a shooting Monday at the school, and were only notified about the troubling incident after getting calls and texts from their children locked down inside the building.

A 13-year-old student is recovering from a gunshot wound and a 12-year-old is in custody after the shooting at 1:30 p.m. Monday at the school in Oakland’s Sobrante Park neighborhood.

Sources told KTVU that investigators were looking into whether a student was playing with a gun on school grounds and it accidently discharged.

Oakland police on Tuesday released a statement saying the incident "was not a deliberate school shooting" and the victim was not an intended target.

But as investigators piece together the circumstances of the shooting, parents remain concerned about the schools policies and procedures around notifying parents during critical incidents.

KTVU spoke to several parents at the scene while the school was still locked down Monday.

12 year old boy shoots 13 year old at East Oakland school

A 13 year old boy was shot by a 12 year old boy at Madison Park Academy in East Oakland. Both boys attend the school. Students describe a chaotic and terrifying scene.

"I really don’t know what happened. I heard the helicopters. And we got a text from the kids and we came down," one mother told KTVU. "My reaction was to get down here and get these kids out."

Angela Hall said she rushed to the school and only began learning details about picking her granddaughter up at the adjacent elementary school.

"She attends this lower campus and that’s how I got the news, and she was nervous and scared," Hall said."

KTVU reached out to the principal at Madison Park Academy and called and emailed the Oakland Unified School District.

We wanted to know their policies and procedures for alerting parents during critical incidents. They did not return any messages.

But at 10 p.m. Monday night, the district sent out an alert to parents – 8 ½ hours after the shooting.

"As you might have heard already in the news or through word of mouth, there was an incident on Monday at Madison Park Academy secondary school," the statement reads in part. "Someone had a firearm, and a round was discharged. A student was hit and is currently in the hospital receiving treatment for their injury."

Oakland City Councilman Loren Taylor was critical of the district’s communication Monday and questioned what plans are in place in case something worse were to happen.

"When we fail to plan we plan to fail and that is unfortunately what happens when you have hours-long delays in communication," he said. "I am expecting that there will be corrections, improvements made so that if something happens again that there is a better response.

Madison Park Academy was back open Tuesday morning and officials said counselors are providing support to students and staff.

Crime and Public Safety News Oakland