Chapter 138

Luke put on his bulletproof vest and also rushed into the campus at the first opportunity.

The Action Bureau only came with about two dozen people, the campus was a large area, it was difficult to complete the search mission quickly with just the people they had.

The Action Bureau belonged to the Special Branch like the Detective Bureau, only the division of labor was different, they were only responsible for the raid, Luke’s priority was to check and protect the scene at the first time.

According to the feedback from the students, the gunshots mainly came from the three buildings Teaching Building, Vocal Building and Science Building.

Luke and Blacky were responsible for the search of the teaching building.

Five neatly equipped and well-trained action team members took the lead, followed closely by Luke, Blackie and ten patrolmen.

A group of more than ten people entered the school building, two officers guarded the stairway and the rest of the officers started searching floor by floor from the first floor.

“BANG!”

“LAPD!”

The police would enter and search every classroom.

Those with open doors were pushed straight through, and those that weren’t opened were rammed through with door breakers.

The first floor was searched with no danger.

Just on the second floor, Luke vaguely smelled a smell of blood, and he didn’t know whether it was a psychological effect or an intuition accumulated from his long experience in criminal investigation.

In the 201 classroom next to the stairs found the body of a black female student, shot twice in the chest, blood stained the ground, there is no breath.

Blackie compared a cross, “What a sad day.”

Luke sighed softly and quickly gathered his emotions and began to look over the scene of the shooting.

The black female student was lying on her back on the floor in the direction of the classroom door, next to her dropped backpack, which was already stained red with blood.

No murder weapon was found, and there were no visible tracks.

Luke pulled out his cell phone and reported back to Susan, asking for the survey team and forensics to get to the scene.

An officer’s voice rang over the intercom, “Shot scene found on the 3rd floor, two victims in the hallway!”

Luke sighed softly, snapped a few pictures, and turned to go up to the third floor.

The scene on the third floor was even more gruesome, two bodies, one male and one female, collapsed in a pool of blood, they didn’t look old, they should be students of the school.

Both victims were white, the male student was shot twice, once in the arm and once in the chest, the two were not very far apart.

“Hey, this girl is still breathing,!” Black shouted, rushing to call for the EMTs.

Luke walked in to take a look, the female student was shot in the chest, her breath was extremely weak, I’m afraid it’s not certain if she can be saved.

“Another body was found in the 3rd floor women’s restroom!”

“Fuck, it’s not over yet!” It was the first time Luke had seen so many gunshot victims at the same scene since he started his career as a police officer.

Luke then rushed back to the restroom to check on a black female student lying on the floor of the restroom with her eyes glazed over, shot three times.

One in the shoulder, one in the chest, and one in the thigh.

Luke furrowed his forehead as three dead and one critically injured victim were found in one building.

This shooting was more serious than expected, the surveillance had been compromised and I was afraid it wouldn’t be easy to investigate.

The coroner and survey team quickly arrived at the scene.

The dead and injured were also found in other parts of the campus. There were two forensic teams and three investigation teams at the scene, which still couldn’t fulfill the needs of the scene, so they had to take things in their stride.

The forensic and survey teams first rushed to classroom 201 to survey the first deceased black female.

The survey team found the black female’s student ID from her bag.

Luke picked it up and looked at it.

The photo was identical to the female decedent.

Name, Fanny Zarris.

Age, 11th grade.

Sex, female.

School number, LA8472.

Class, B12.

Date of birth, April 19, 2005

Address, 131 Cayce Street.

Social Security Number, 623-23-7318

The LA student ID is more like a student ID, not only can you use it at school, you can use it outside as well, and you can use it for a wide range of purposes, getting discounts on insurance, driver’s licenses, rides, and meals.

Luke handed the ID card to Xiao Hei at the side: “Check her specific information.”

Xiao Hei was a bit silent today, without extra words, he directly took the student ID card and contacted Matthew.

Although Luke’s person didn’t move, the intercom kept sending messages, roughly understanding the situation of the whole shooting incident.

The entire school had basically been searched.

Many timid students had been hiding in classrooms waiting to be rescued, which in turn was the safest way to go if the classroom doors were sturdy enough.

One dead and one wounded in the vocal building.

One dead in the science building.

That made it look like the school building had a large portion of the dead and injured.

The overall casualties were a little better than expected.

“Luke, Matthew sent word that there’s a problem with the deceased Fanny’s student ID? The social security code is a fake.”

“Fake?” Luke said darkly, could it be that she wasn’t a student, but one of the murderers?

“Contact the class teacher and have them come over to identify it.”

After such a big incident at the school, many teachers stood guard at the entrance of the school and didn’t leave.

Soon a white woman in her thirties walked in and covered her face when she saw Fanny’s body, “Even buy Karma, even buy Karma …… How did this happen?”

Luke flashed his badge, “I’m Detective Luke, what’s your name?”

“I’m Sharon Bruce, the teacher of class B12.”

Luke pointed to the black female student on the floor, “Ms. Sharon, do you recognize this victim?”

“Yes, Fanny, she only just transferred to the school half a month ago, I can’t believe …… even buy a Karma, her parents must be very sad.”

“Fanny was a transfer student?”

“Yes.”

Luke thought that the deceased had just broken into the school, now listening to Ms. Sharon, this female deceased came to the school half a month ago and with a fake identity?

How did she do that?

What was the purpose?

“Where did Fanny used to go to school and why did she transfer to this school?”

“Fanny used to be from Nevada, she and her family just moved to Los Angeles and live not far from the school, it’s a neighborhood school.”

“Has there been anything unusual in the time she’s been enrolled?”

“Uh …… She gets along well with her classmates, but, she’s a little worse at homework and not very motivated to study, other than that she’s fine.”

“Do you have her parents’ contact information?”

“No. But there might be in her file, any questions?”

“I need her home address and her parents’ contact information, Ms. Sharon, it’s important.”

“Ah …… I can’t make that call, I’ll have to ask the principal for permission.”

Luke nodded and didn’t say anything else.

With that, Luke crouched down and re-examined the black woman’s body.

If he looked closely, she was wearing a school uniform, but she did look more mature than the other students.

Luke checked her hands, both upper hands had calluses.

Only on the left hand the calluses were on the top of the palm.

The right hand not only had calluses on the palm, but also on the knuckles.

Luke said to Blackie, who was on the side, “Go and verify the identity of the other dead.”

After a while, Ms. Sharon came back, “SORRY, there was no file found for Fanny.”

Luke asked back, “What do you mean you didn’t find it?

No?

Not found?

Or lost?”

Sharon shook her head, “I’m not sure, I’m not in charge of these things.”

“Am I to understand that this is how your school treats shootings?

If the parents sue the school, the testimony and attitude of the police will be crucial, and by then today’s events will be on the record, I promise.”

Sharon was also a little helpless, “I’m just a teacher, these aren’t my decisions to make, I just did what I had to do.”

Luke sized her up carefully and didn’t say anything else, he always felt that there was something unusual here.

A few minutes later Susan arrived on the scene as well and Luke told her about the scene.

Susan looked aside at Sharon, “Ms. Sharon, I’m the captain of Squadron One of the Robbery and Murder Division, can I talk to you for a minute?”

“Sure.”

“I’d like to get to know Fanny ……” Susan didn’t finish her sentence when a car honked outside.

Luke and Susan walked over to the window to check it out as two tall Chevy SUV’s drove into the school and several men wearing bulletproof vests emblazoned with the FBI stepped out of the vehicles.

One of the men seemed to spot Luke and the others and greeted them at the window.

Susan shook her head, “Those arrogant bastards.”

A white man in his forties wearing FBI body armor walked up to the classroom door, “Hi Captain Susan, hello again.”

Susan responded, “Agent Anthony, it’s been a while. What are you doing here?”

“I’m here to take over the scene, I’ve already spoken to Director Reed.”

“But I haven’t gotten any word.”

Anthony shrugged, “That can only mean that the efficiency of your detective bureau …… is worrying.

This strengthens my resolve to take over the scene.”

Anthony walked over to the deceased Fanny and crouched down to take a closer look, “What’s the name of the deceased, did you get an ID?”

Luke replied, “Fanny Zaris, a student of class B12.”

“Such a shame to be so young.” Anthony got up and said to the surveyor aside, “Please seal the evidence and hand it over to the FBI, thank you.”

Susan didn’t back down, “I’m afraid I’m going to have to disappoint you then, until I’m officially notified, I’m still in charge here.”

Anthony spread his hands, “You’re still as stubborn as ever, but it doesn’t mean much.”

Susan clasped her hands in front of her, “We’ll see then.”

Luke scowled at Anthony, “Agent, can I ask a question?”

“What question?”

“Did you know the deceased?”

“No,” Anthony answered dryly.

Luke rolled up the sleeve of the victim’s right arm, revealing a slanted-eye bulldog tattoo and a red hat on his head.

“Now what?”

“Whew……,” Anthony sighed softly, cocking his head to the side.

Susan raised both eyebrows, “She’s one of yours?

That’s why you were so eager to take over the scene.”

Anthony pursed his lips, “It’s a bit complicated to say the least.”

“That’s okay, I have plenty of time.”

Anthony said perfunctorily, “Captain Susan, you should know that the FBI has FBI rules, there are some things I can’t tell you.”

“If you don’t tell us, we’ll find out ourselves, please leave from the scene.”

“This case is better left to us, the FBI.”

“Your man just died and the FBI is taking over the scene, campus cases have always gotten a lot of attention from the media and the public, if the media knew about this, they would definitely write about it.

If the media and the public pressed the question of why did the FBI man die on campus?

And what does it have to do with this shooting?

How would you answer that?”

Anthony’s face was a little hard to see, “It’s not what you think, this shooting has nothing to do with the FBI, and we don’t want this to happen.”

Susan pressed on, “Then make it clear, so we can solve the case as soon as possible, it’s better for everyone.”

“I’m going to make a call.” Anthony said and went out the door.

Susan also called to Reed to report the situation.

Soon, the three of them gathered to confer.

Blackie gave a curious look, “How did you know the dead woman was FBI.”

Luke explained, “She had calluses on the fingers of her right hand, definitely someone who touched guns all day. And the slant-eyed bulldog tattoo on her right arm is the unofficial mascot of the Marine Corps and the most recognizable sea and land tattoo.

Also, the school’s attitude aroused my suspicions.

Normally when a shooting happens at a school, the school would be worried about being prosecuted and would do their best to assist the police in their investigation.

But their attitude is weird, most likely authorized by the FBI before.”

Black nodded and rubbed his chin, “You and I thought of the same thing.”

Luke “……”

About ten minutes later, Reed, Susan, and Anthony return to the scene.

Anthony looked at Luke again, “What’s your name, young man?”

“Luke.”

“I’ll remember you.”

“SORRY, I’m only interested in beautiful women.”

“Oily boy.”

Reed laughed, “He’s one of our elite in the robbery and murder division. There’s no shame in taking a loss at his hands.”

Susan urged, “Agent Anthony, let’s talk about Fanny’s situation first.”

Anthony was silent for a moment, “About a month ago, we received a tip-off call from someone who claimed that a student at Malaboa High School possessed a gun and a motive to kill, and was likely to commit a shooting murder.

We sent an agent to infiltrate the school to investigate as required, the deceased Fanny.”

Anthony sighed, “She was a good fighter, good Marine, excellent marksman and fighting skills, flew many missions, didn’t think anything bad would happen to her.

There’s no way these milquetoast brats were a match for her.”

Susan said, “The truth is she was killed.”

Anthony shook his head, “I’m confused too, it doesn’t make sense.”

Luke asked, “Has she contacted you guys in the meantime?”

“Of course, we’ve been in contact, she reports on her investigations at the school and we analyze the credibility and danger level of the reports to issue new orders.”

“Tell us about her investigations.”

Anthony was silent for a moment, “The subject of her investigation is named Povin Pilton, a student in the 11th grade, class B12.

She’s been in contact with him for a while, and there wasn’t much of a problem with Povin’s studies or mental health, and we were ready to let her terminate the mission after observing him for a few days.

However, she discovered a new situation, there might be a case of campus profiteering (river crab) in Bo Wen, and the mood swings of this kind of student are very unstable, so we decided that the mission would continue.”

Black frowned, “School violence, I’ve seen a lot of it when I was in school, it exists in every school to a greater or lesser extent, but I hate this kind of behavior.

Is Bowen the abuser?”

“On the contrary, Povin was the target of the bullying, Povin is a white lad with a thin build and a shy personality, not many friends, fits the profile of the abused.”

Black pressed, “Did you decide to continue the mission plan to address the situation of Povon being abused? Or was it a suspicion that he might carry out the shooting.”

“Both, and when we gather enough information on the circumstances of the violence, we will relay it to the proper authorities. This kind of conflict between students is not something we at the FBI specialize in, you know.”

Luke asked, “Any idea of the identity of the informant?”

“No, the bearer card used, and it was only used once.”

“What about the abuser?”

“Chad Kress, same grade as him, a bad boy who likes to bully.”

Black froze for a moment and asked, “Wasn’t it a blond kid?”

“How do you know?”

Blackie pointed up, “He was lying up there.”

“He was killed too, why didn’t you say so?” Agent Anthony turned around and headed outside.

Black was a little offended, “Is he being polite like that?”

Susan said, “The way they always are, just get used to it.”

Luke and the others then went up to the third floor.

A white male student with blonde hair was lying in the hallway, his face pale and his eyes wide open.

Anthony sighed, “That’s the kid.”

Black nodded and said smoothly, “So this was a shooting caused by schoolyard profiteering. Did we find out who did it?”

Anthony muttered, “With Fanny dead and this kid killed, there’s a good chance this has something to do with Bowen Pilton.

I’ll have to talk to him.”

Susan corrected, “It’s us.”