Juvenile shot at Skyline High School in Oakland; 2 suspects arrested

By Carlos E. Castañeda

A shooting at Oakland’s Skyline High School injured a juvenile on Wednesday, and two other juveniles were arrested, authorities said.

The Oakland Police Department said the shooting happened just before 1:30 p.m. on the campus on Skyline Boulevard in the East Oakland hills. Officers arrived to find one juvenile who had been shot, and the person was taken to a hospital in stable condition, police said.

Two firearms were recovered at the scene, according to police, who did not confirm whether any of the three juveniles were students at Skyline. 

The school was placed on lockdown as police investigated the shooting. The school district said classes would be open tomorrow and that there would be counselors on the Skyline campus to help students cope with the situation.

“Our schools are very well prepared for this kind of thing to happen. I mean, when I say this kind of thing, anything involving violence, involving handguns, weapons of any kind, in the school or anywhere around the school,” said Oakland Unified School District spokesman John Sasaki. “Because, you know, we know there is unfortunately a level of violence that happens in the city of Oakland. So, unfortunately, sometimes it happens on our school campuses, and so our staff is very well prepared for this kind of thing, because they just have to deal with it when it happens.” 

 It’s an incident that violence prevention program Youth Alive Oakland works tirelessly to try to keep from happening.

“Today is really hitting our team hard,” said Joe Griffin, Executive Director of Youth Alive Oakland.

Youth Alive Oakland has three of its violence prevention programs based at Skyline High School. The goal is to settle conflicts before they result in violence, but its programs also help with the aftermath. Making sure there’s no retaliation, the victim gets the support they need to move forward, and for all students to feel safe.

The district said it will look at how the situation was handled to see if anything could have been done differently. While school staff and police acted quickly, this kind of violence takes an emotional toll on everyone’s sense of safety.

“Anytime this happens on any kind of environment, whether it’s a workplace or a school or any kind of institution, it’s going to shake the core of the people that are there,”said John Sasaki, spokesperson for the Oakland Unified School District. “It certainly has shaken the students. Shaken the staff, shaken the families.”

“This isn’t an easy thing for any of us to understand and deal with,” Griffin said. “You’re going to feel a lot of different emotions. Just know that what you’re feeling and going through, you’re not going through it alone.”

Oakland Mayor Barbara Lee issued a statement saying she was in close contact with Oakland police and that her thoughts were with students, families, and staff affected by the shooting.

“Every child deserves to feel safe at school. Gun violence is a crisis we must address with unwavering urgency,” said Lee. “We will continue working with law enforcement, community partners, and school officials to protect our children and ensure our schools remain sanctuaries of learning, not scenes of violence like today.” 

The victim is expected to be OK.

Police did not divulge any additional information about the shooting. Anyone with information about the incident was asked to contact the department’s felony assault unit at (510) 238-3426. Persons with videos or photos that could help investigators were asked to send them to cidvideos@oaklandca.gov

In May 2024, a shooting following a Skyline High graduation ceremony injured three people. One person was arrested. 

Another shooting at Skyline HS happened in September 2023 and led to the arrest of two people. No one was injured in that shooting.