Shooting victim causes school lockdown

A man who was shot in the Plainview area wound up in the parking lot of Sunnyside School, forcing officials to lock down the campus for a short while Friday afternoon.

The children were never in any danger.

Tulare County Sheriff’s Department Sgt. Michael Giefer said the shooting victim, a man believed to be in his 40s, apparently was a passenger in a small pickup when someone fired at least two shots at the vehicle. One bullet went through the driver’s side front windshield, the other through the passenger side outside mirror.

Apparently, the driver of the truck, who was not injured, was driving the man to the hospital when for some reason they pulled into the driveway of Sunnyside School at 21644 Avenue 196 west of Strathmore at about 1 p.m.

A deputy en route to the shooting call saw the pick-up that had been described in the call and turned in behind it.

Giefer said the man suffered a non-life threatening wound to the abdomen. He said the man was standing outside of the truck when the deputy pulled up.

Sunnyside School officials only became alerted when the deputy’s vehicle pulled into the driveway with lights on. They immediately ordered a lockdown of the school that has approximately 380 students.

Principal Steve Tsuboi said the lockdown only lasted about 15 minutes. Once they learned that there was no threat to the students and the victim had been taken by ambulance to the hospital, they ended the lockdown.

“The staff acted very good,” he said.

The only disruption to the school was the bus loading zone had to be moved as detectives combed the scene for clues to the shooting.

Geifer said deputies were searching the Plainview area for where the shooting may have occurred.