Weapon – described as a loaded pistol – seized during brawl at Sylmar High School

A loaded gun fell to the ground during a fight between several students at Sylmar High School on Friday morning. The incident led to the school being closed and at least one arrest, according to a source familiar with the investigation.

No injuries were reported.

In a statement to families and staff, officials at the Los Angeles school confirmed “a disturbance on campus” and that school police “seized a weapon from a student and took that student into custody.”

KCAL News reported on the incident on Friday and interviewed a mother who said students had spoken about a gun being found and that her 11th-grader son had seen another student in his class taken into custody later in the school day.

Regarding the incident leading up to the altercation, they said that “two children were trying to get into a fight and one of the children pointed a gun at the other,” the parent told the television reporter.

KCAL also aired two videos purporting to show the fight. In one video, it appears as if at least two students are punching another student. Part of the second video shows a student picking up an object from the ground that could be a weapon — however, the video was blurry when it aired.

While the county did not confirm that the item was a firearm, a source familiar with the investigation said officers discovered a loaded firearm that fell to the ground during the altercation and was later confiscated by officers.

The source was not authorized to speak about the incident and requested anonymity.

The district confirmed one arrest, but the source said more than one student was taken into custody.

Last week, the new school year began in LA Unified, the second largest school system in the country.

The brawl – and the apparent discovery of a loaded gun – occurred a day after an after-school stabbing at Franklin High School.

District officials apparently quickly alerted parents through a messaging system, but details were limited.

The first message informed parents that “an incident occurred at or near our school that necessitated a 'lockdown' of our school.”

In the event of a lockdown, “all gates and doors in the entire school would be locked,” parents were told.

In an update, the school informed families that the curfew began at 10:15 a.m.

A third message announced the end of the curfew, which the district said ended at 10:54 a.m. The third message also said the regional office would “provide additional support staff to ensure the safety and well-being of our school community,” including mental health support.

Typically, such support includes school police officers on campus. Typically, police officers are limited to patrol duties and are not allowed on campus grounds.

The scenario of a fight or attack in which a student reaches for a weapon recently had deadly consequences when a student was shot and killed by another student not far from campus near Washington Preparatory High.