El Camino Real High School Shooting

LOS ANGELES — A school police officer was shot by a suspected car burglar near a San Fernando Valley high school Wednesday but his bulletproof vest saved him, authorities said. Officers swept a wide area, locking down nine schools in a dragnet for the shooter.

"He is a lucky man. The vest did its job and stopped the bullet," Dr. Stephen Jones, medical director of emergency services of Northridge Hospital Medical Center, said of the officer.

The bullet bounced off Officer Jeff Stenroos' armored chest, bruising him, and he hit the back of his head on the ground when he fell down. But he had no internal damage and his wounds were not serious, Jones said.

"He is comfortable, he is talking, he is conscious and alert," said Steven K. Zipperman, police chief for the Los Angeles Unified School District.

"It was kind of a mixture of, 'Boy, am I lucky,' with the sheer ... impact of having someone point a gun at you and feeling the impact of the bullet," Jones said.