Apr 16, 2008 3:09 pm US/Pacific
Fresno Student Shot Dead By Cop After Bat Attack
FRESNO (CBS 5 / AP) ―
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Fresno police at the scene where a high school student was shot and killed on campus by an officer.
CBS
A Fresno police officer shot and killed a high school student Wednesday after the teenager allegedly attacked the officer with a baseball bat on campus, authorities said.
Police indicated that the officer fired shortly before noon, after a boy at Roosevelt High School allegedly hit the officer in the head with the bat. The cause of the attack was not immediately known.
"This was an incident where a 17 year-old came up from behind this officer with a baseball bat and struck him in the head," Fresno Police Chief Jerry Dyer said.
The officer fell down dazed and grabbed a gun from his ankle holster and fired, Dyer said.
"The officer was fortunate that he was able to defend himself," the chief said.
Dyer said there was no history of negative contact between the student and the officer, who was employed by the police department as the school's resource officer.
The officer's identity and condition were not immediately released.
The campus was locked down after the incident. Students were allowed to leave the campus as their parents arrived.
Ray Mendez, a volunteer at the school, said he was speaking to a remedial English class when he heard a loud popping sound outside the classroom.
"That's went I went down and saw the young man lying there and the officer was bleeding from his head. This was a real shocker. We try to prevent these kind of events at all costs," Mendez said.
Dana Vasquez, a 14-year-old freshman, was on her way to physical education class when the situation erupted.
"I just saw a bat swinging in the air and heard a gunshot and then I just started running," Vasquez said. She was visibly shaken when she left the school holding her mother's arm.
Sophomore Veronica Rivas, 16, said she normally felt safe at school and that relationships between police and students were normally amicable.
"If you were cool with the officer, he didn't have anything to say to you," Rivas said. "But he was the cop here, so everybody's going to have something against him."
(© 2009 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)
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