Officials are investigating a Long Beach school safety officer who fired their gun at a suspected burglar on a high school campus Friday morning.
At 2:44 a.m. the Long Beach Police Department was dispatched to assist a Long Beach Unified School District school safety officer with a possible burglary suspect on the Millikan High School campus, according to the police department.
School safety officers responded to multiple intrusion alarms at the campus and spotted an unknown adult emerging from one of the campus bungalows, school district officials said.
When police officers arrived, they learned a school safety officer, whose identity has not be released, had fired their service weapon, according to police officials.
The weapon was fired during the encounter between the safety officer and the suspected burglar, district officials said.
It’s unclear whether anyone was injured during the encounter or what prompted the officer to fire. According to the Long Beach Unified safety officers’ policy, officers may fire only when reasonably necessary and justified under the circumstances, such as self-defense and the protection of others.
The school safety officer has been put on paid administrative leave pending the results of the current investigation, the school district said.
This incident comes weeks after a safety officer was found guilty of voluntary manslaughter for fatally shooting an 18-year-old woman in the back of the head in 2021 near Millikan High School.
The suspect in Friday’s incident fled on foot, police said, so the SWAT team was called in to search the campus.
The SWAT team concluded their search by 7 a.m. but did not locate the suspect, who was still at large early Friday afternoon. The school was deemed safe and secure for students and staff by law enforcement officials, and it resumed its normal hours of operation with increased law enforcement presence on campus.