A 15-year-old boy shot and wounded two fellow students outside a high school in Northeast D.C. on Wednesday morning, authorities said. The school was put on lockdown.
The two students, both boys, were taken to a hospital with injuries, Metropolitan Police Department Chief of Police Robert Contee said. The suspect was arrested and faces charges.
Officers responded to IDEA Public Charter School, in the 1000 block of 45th Street NE, just before 10 a.m and found the two teen victims. A 16-year-old was shot in the stomach, and a 15-year-old was shot in the arm.
The school was put on lockdown after “a shooting in the neighborhood,” a message on the school’s website at about 11:15 a.m. said.
A mother with a child in a day care that operates inside the school described a scary morning.
“Your heart definitely drops when you get a lockdown notice that there was a shooting outside of your child’s day care,” she said, asking not to use her name.
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According to the initial investigation, a student arrived at the school earlier Wednesday not wearing the proper uniform. School officials offered to help, but the student declined and left, Contee said.
About 15 minutes later, two other students arrived and tried to bypass a security officer who was operating a metal detector wand. When the officer challenged the boys about being checked, they left.
The three students then clashed outside the school, and the 15-year-old boy pulled out a gun and opened fire, Contee said. The two other students were hit.
It was unclear if the shooter was the student who arrived not in uniform or one of the students who tried to bypass security.
“This is a very unfortunate situation. It’s very tragic that we’re seeing firearms in the hands of young people who should not have them,” Contee said.
The police chief thanked the security officer for ensuring that no other students were hurt.
Ninth graders at IDEA headed back to school on Aug. 24, the school’s website says. Students in grades 10 through 12 returned on Monday.
About a half-hour before the shooting outside IDEA and two miles south, another teen boy was shot and wounded.
Officers responded to the 4700 block of Alabama Avenue SE, about a block-and-a-half from a D.C. public school, and found a teen boy shot inside a building, Contee said. The shooting occurred after an apparent dispute, according to the initial investigation.
The shooting victim was taken to a hospital and was in surgery.
Police are consulting DC Housing Authority officials during the investigation, Contee said. No information on an arrest or suspect was immediately released.
There was no indication of any connection between the two shootings.
Overall reports of violent crime in D.C. are up 2% so far this year compared to the same time last year, police data shows. Reports of assault with a dangerous weapon are down 11%.
A number of recent shootings in D.C. have involved young people who were suspects or victims. In remarks earlier this week after a teen shot Commanders player Brian Robinson Jr., Mayor Muriel Bowser had a message for families.
“If you know you have a young person that’s involved in crime, that may have access to a gun, that may have a gun in your home, you need to reach out to us so that we can get them some help before they hurt someone or get hurt. But we also need young people to face consequences,” she said.
Outside IDEA, the mother who received a day care lockdown notice asked whether police could crack down on truancy of young people who should be in school during school hours.
“We just have to do something,” she said.
The police chief said the D.C. Council has forced the police department to reduce the number of school resource officers by about 20 officers per year. In about three years, there will be no officers in schools, which he said is a move in the wrong direction.
Stay with NBC Washington for more details on this developing story.
