We are a group of Fullerton parents who are deeply concerned about what occurred in our community this morning January 22, 2026. What it appeared to be\u2014plainly and unmistakably\u2014was the Fullerton Police Department assisting ICE, potentially in violation of California law, while failing to protect a neighborhood and its children from an armed individual.<\/p>\n
According to the Fullerton Police Department, at approximately 6:44 am police communications received a call from a \u201creporting party\u201d describing a man with a handgun jumping fences in the Woodcrest neighborhood, directly adjacent to Woodcrest Elementary School. Officers then state they were \u201cflagged down\u201d by an ICE agent, who claimed ICE was pursuing an armed suspect. Fullerton PD asserts it set up a perimeter while ICE searched the area and then cleared once additional federal resources arrived.<\/p>\n
FPD\u2019s account does not align with what the community witnessed, what video evidence documents, or what basic public-safety protocol requires. <\/p>\n
And we want answers.<\/p>\n
If there was truly an armed individual loose near an elementary school, Fullerton PD did not act as police typically do during an active gun threat. There were no bullhorn announcements instructing residents to shelter in place. There were no helicopters canvassing the area, no drones deployed. There were no emergency alerts issued to nearby residents. And most alarmingly, Woodcrest Elementary School and Fullerton Elementary School District were not notified, and the elementary school was not placed on lockdown.<\/p>\n
This is profoundly concerning to us as parents with children in our elementary schools.<\/p>\n
When a Woodcrest staff member approached officers to determine whether students arriving and those already on campus were at risk, they were allegedly told that police could not provide any information. They were not told there was a shooter at large. They were not instructed to initiate a lockdown. Children, families, and school staff were left exposed while critical safety information was withheld by FPD. This is unacceptable. <\/p>\n
What is more, instead of the urgency that typically accompanies an active gunman, residents documented officers calmly facilitating an ICE operation: opening secured fire gates to allow ICE into a private apartment complex, establishing perimeters for federal agents, and standing by as ICE slowly walked the grounds. This is not what a response to an armed suspect looks like. This looks like FPD cooperating with ICE. That contradiction is at the center of our concern.<\/p>\n
Fullerton PD\u2019s own written statement raises further red flags.<\/p>\n
The department\u00a0statement describes a suspect in a white shirt, yet officers stopped and threatened to detain a young Latino man walking his dog because he was wearing a grey hoodie\u2014explicitly stating they were searching for someone in a grey hoodie in contradiction to the description in their statement. The FPD statement also omits that officers opened secured gates to allow ICE into private property, raising serious questions about whether a valid judicial warrant was reviewed by FPD, as required under California law.<\/p>\n
While FPD claims it cleared the scene, video shows Fullerton PD officers remaining present after ICE disengaged. Another curious fact is that ICE was removed from the complex by the apartment manager. Video shows ICE officers exiting without urgency\u2014an odd behavior if there were truly an active shooter posing an immediate threat.<\/p>\n
If this were a real and immediate danger of a gunman, why wasn\u2019t it treated like one?
\nWhy were school staff and the school district not informed?
\nWhy were NO OTHER schools notified that a gunman was on the loose in our city?
\nWhy were parents not notified?
\nWhy wasn\u2019t Woodcrest locked down?
\nWhy was the public not warned\u2014or later informed that the threat had been neutralized?
\nIf there was truly a gunman, why didn\u2019t Fullerton PD act like it?
\nAnd if there wasn\u2019t, why was ICE allowed to operate under that pretext?<\/p>\n
Just one day earlier, Fullerton High School went on lockdown due to a nonviolent concern involving an unhoused individual. Yet an alleged armed suspect near an elementary school triggered no comparable response. Not a peep. That disparity is indefensible. It doesn\u2019t add up to us.<\/p>\n
Fullerton PD asserted that assisting ICE was permissible due to an \u201cimmediate public-safety threat.\u201d That justification collapses under scrutiny. You cannot claim exigent danger while failing to deploy the most basic tools to protect our community when a person with a gun is at large.<\/p>\n
If the department\u2019s account is accurate, then it represents a failure on the part of FPD to be transparent and to protect children and the surrounding community. Many of us are deeply unsettled by what could have happened in our schools and to our children if this threat were legitimate. Was it?\u00a0<\/p>\n
This moment requires leadership\u2014not deference.<\/p>\n
In a time when ICE is operating aggressively and testing the limits of local law, our Police Chief must be firm with ICE, not passive.\u00a0If there is a genuine risk in our city and ICE is present, the Chief must demand full information. The department must be fully accountable and fully transparent. \u201cWe don\u2019t know\u201d and \u201cwe can\u2019t disclose\u201d are not acceptable responses when public safety, our children, and trust are at stake.<\/p>\n
Local law enforcement answers to the people who live here\u2014not to federal agencies operating without transparency. This is not about politics. It is about trust. <\/p>\n
In immigrant communities, when police appear aligned with ICE, people stop calling for help. Crimes go unreported.\u00a0Emergencies escalate. That erosion of trust makes every person in our city less safe and deepens harmful \u201cus versus them\u201d divisions.<\/p>\n
If Fullerton PD violated state law and assisted ICE this morning, there is a formal accountability process\u2014and the community will pursue it. But accountability should not require escalation. It should begin with honesty.<\/p>\n
Fullerton deserves clear answers, firm leadership, and a police department that chooses the community\u2014especially the safety of children\u2014first.<\/p>\n
\u2014Concerned Parents of Fullerton<\/p>\n
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