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LOS ANGELES () — As Los Angeles Unified School District students prepare to return to class next week, data shows gunfire has been recorded within 500 yards of most district campuses over the past decade – a trend educators, parents, and community advocates say is traumatizing some children and hindering their ability to learn.
According to data from the Gun Violence Archive and the U.S. Department of Education provided by the Gun Violence Data Hub, 353 LAUSD campuses – about 45% of schools – experienced at least one “school-adjacent shooting” in the past two years.
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Over five years, that number rises to 540 campuses, or 68%. Over the past decade, 626 campuses – 80% of the district’s schools – had gunfire recorded nearby.
A “school-adjacent shooting” is defined as any gunshot detected within 500 yards of a campus, at any time of day or night.
Mapping of the incidents shows clusters of gunfire around schools in South Los Angeles, including 75th Street Elementary School, where 50 nearby shootings have been reported in the past 10 years. Those shootings resulted in 40 people injured and 27 killed.
The school sits in what one parent of a student at 75th Street Elementary described as a neighborhood with tremendous gang activity. She declined to appear on camera because of fear of gang retaliation.
In just the past two years, 15 shootings have occurred within 500 yards of 75th Street Elementary, injuring 12 people, according to the data from Gun Violence Data Hub.
Jema, who lives next to the school and asked that her last name not be used, said gunfire is a regular part of life.
“How often do you think you hear a gunshot?” she was asked.
“It’s very often, it happens at least once a month,” she said.
She said her eight-year-old sister, who attends the school, struggles with fear.
“It makes her scared because, you know, school supposed to be a safe space for kids, and if they’re worried about what’s going on outside of the school, you know they can’t really focus on their education.”
Nearby campuses show similar patterns.
Gil Garcetti Learning Academy recorded 15 school-adjacent shootings in the past two years, resulting in six deaths. MacArthur Park Elementary School for the Visual and Performing Arts saw 13 nearby shootings over the same period, with 22 people injured.
Marc Maye, who runs Project Blue, an organization that connects inner city youth with police, said the violence is affecting students’ ability to learn.
“We’re asking them to go into the classroom and go learn with a clear mind,” Maye said. “And if their minds aren’t clear, if they’re fearful of what’s happening on the outside, it’s really hard to stay focused on the inside.”
He recalled one child who struggled after hearing gunfire the night before a spelling test.
“I had a kid before who recently, the night before, there were gunshots in his neighborhood, he came back to take a spelling test and just his mind was just blank. He couldn’t do anything.”
A Syracuse University study found math and English test scores were 50% lower at elementary schools in neighborhoods with high levels of gunfire.
Despite the proximity of some schools to police resources – including 75th Street Elementary, which sits near LAPD’s 77th Street Station – officials say enforcement remains key.
“It’s enforcement. It’s getting out there and talking about what happens,” LAPD Chief Jim McDonnell said. “When it’s school time, we put an extra emphasis on making sure that kids can get to and from school safely, that’s a priority for us.”
Homicides are down 15% in Los Angeles so far this year, McDonnell said, noting the trend is moving in the right direction.
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