Two men were injured in a shooting outside of a football game at Westmont High School in Campbell on Nov. 26.
With about two minutes left in the Central Coast Section championship game between Junipero Serra High School and Mountain View’s Saint Francis High, gunfire rang out.
“I was on the sideline,” said Saint Francis President Jason Curtis. “I heard a popping sound.”
He spun around and looked up toward the bleachers where about five rows of people had suddenly begun to move.
“Something was going on,” he said. “Someone mentioned that they thought they heard gunfire.”
Officials quickly figured out the trouble wasn’t related to activity in the stands, and administrators and coaching staff implored people to stay put.
“Our students did a really good job of listening to us,” he said, adding players were instructed to “stay down and get low.”
Video of the incident posted to social media appears to show Serra players streaming across the stadium, behind an endzone, while St. Francis players lie on their bellies around the 45-yard line.
“Stay down; please stay calm,” an announcer says in the Twitter post by @Coach_T_Pruitt. “Please stay calm.”
San Jose Police headed to the scene around 9pm. About 30 minutes later a spokesperson for the San Jose Police Department confirmed a shooting had, in fact, occurred in the parking lot outside the stadium, injuring at least one man.
“If you are at the game please remain calm,” the spokesperson said on Twitter. “Officers are assisting with egress.”
Police would later confirm a second man was sent to hospital in connection with the incident. Both suffered non-life-threatening injuries.
Curtis says St. Francis conducted shooting-emergency training earlier in the year, but noted athletes and fans were in an unfamiliar environment.
“Obviously, people have seen incidents happen on the news,” he said. “It can be really frightening.”
Eventually, administrators consulted with public safety officials and students, and the championship continued.
Saint Francis had been leading essentially until the shooting happened. But Serra ended up defeating them 16-12.
“Our team, our coaches were really disappointed,” Curtis said. “It was very difficult to lose and lose in that manner.”
But, he says, he’s just happy all of their students were OK.
“We are so focused on our student safety,” he said. “Anything that threatens that—it really shakes you.”
After hearing from some attendees that they were having trouble hearing updates from the announcer, during the commotion, Curtis sent out a message to the school community, signed jointly with Principal Katie Teekell. In the email they admitted there “was not sufficient communication in the stadium,” according to the Los Altos Town Crier.
“We understand that communication is important,” Curtis told the Los Gatan, adding St. Francis wasn’t in charge of the loudspeaker at the event. “We can communicate more. We can share more.”
