Police searching for two gunmen after Coachella shooting

“We were just on the swings and we heard two gun shots over behind this wall over here,” said Rene Garza, a fourth grader at Cesar Chavez Elementary School who heard gun shots while playing at a park nearby.

Over the wall is the school, and across the street Sheriff’s deputies say shots were fired just before 4 p.m. Thursday on the 49600 block of Avenida De Oro.

“After that we heard more like after that it became more loud,” Garza said.

The school went into lockdown to protect students and staff at after-school programs. But the school district says no one at the school was involved.

“It had nothing to do with the school, it was across the street kind of toward that trailer park over there,” said Dr. Darryl Adams, Coachella Valley Unified School District Superintendent.

Authorities say four people were involved in the shooting: two victims transported themselves to John F. Kennedy hospital with non-life-threatening injuries. Meanwhile two suspects fled the scene on foot and were last seen running north east toward the Food 4 Less shopping center.

“The area’s been checked and the suspects fled the location and they’re undetermined at this time, no description at all,” said Deputy Armando Munoz, public information officer for the Riverside County Sheriff’s Department.

Investigators canvassed the neighborhood outside the school gathering witness statements, while a California Highway Patrol aircraft also searched the area.

The two suspects are still on the loose.

“The witnesses are being interviewed, the scene is being processed and there is a search for the suspects as well,” Deputy Munoz said.