Shooting spurs lockouts at Foothill, Voorhies schools

A shooting that injured a boy prompted a lockout for Foothill High School and Voorhies Elementary School students Tuesday afternoon, according to school officials.

Deputies were dispatched at 2:48 p.m. to the area of Breckenridge Road and Palomino Drive for a report of a shooting, the Kern County Sheriff’s Office said in a news release. They found a boy suffering from multiple gunshot wounds.

The victim, whose age was not given, was taken to a hospital, and his condition is unknown, the KCSO added. A suspect was taken into custody.

Voorhies Elementary School was put into lockout at 2:55 p.m., which was removed about 30 minutes later, said Bakersfield City School District spokeswoman Tabatha Mills.

Foothill High School implemented a lockout shortly before 3 p.m., which was lifted “soon after,” said Kern High School District spokeswoman Erin Briscoe-Clarke.

Each school had dismissed its students for the day before the shooting, the spokeswomen added.

During a lockout, a school does not allow anyone to enter or exit campus. No students were affected, Mills added.

The investigation is ongoing. Anyone with information can contact the KCSO at 661861-3110 or the Secret Witness line at 661-322-4040.

A traffic stop Monday morning led to deputies seizing a handgun, ammunition and marijuana in Wasco, according to a KCSO news release issued Tuesday.

Deputies tried to pull over a vehicle driven by Damien Torres, 21, of Wasco, around 8:17 a.m. near the intersection of 7th Street and Broadway, in Wasco, according to KCSO officials. They reported that he initially failed to stop, and so he was briefly pursued to the nearby intersection of Sunset and Oak avenues, where Torres’ vehicle came to a stop.

After the stop, deputies searched Torres’s vehicle and allegedly found the contraband, and took Torres, who was on parole, into custody, according to the KCSO.

He was arrested on suspicion of failing to stop at a stop sign, driving without a valid license, evading an officer, possession of marijuana for sales, participating in a criminal street gang, violating his parole, and several felony weapon-related charges including carrying a concealed weapon in a vehicle and possession of a loaded firearm by a prohibited person.

Anyone with additional information regarding this investigation can contact the Kern County Sheriff’s Office at 661-861-3110 or Secret Witness at 661-322-4040.

The Kern County coroner released the identity of a woman killed Monday in a fatal crash on Taft Highway near Buena Vista Road in Bakersfield.

Charlie Daisy Serna, 22, of Bakersfield, died at 7:51 a.m. Monday, according to a coroner’s office news release.

The coroner released the identity of a woman who died in a Nov. 16 traffic collision in the 2000 block of Union Avenue.

Fedricia Harrison, 40, of Bakersfield, died at 12:20 p.m. Nov. 19 at Kern Medical from injuries she sustained in the crash, the coroner’s office said.