“Utter chaos” is how one student described the moments after gunfire erupted at a senior skip day gathering in Greenbelt, Maryland, where five teens were shot, police said.
About 500 to 600 people gathered at Schrom Hills Park and Schrom Hills Recreation Center for an unsanctioned senior skip day at about 2:30 p.m. Friday. Witnesses and police described a peaceful celebration, with teens shooting water guns, enjoying food and listening to music before the burst of violence.
Officers in the area to direct traffic heard gunshots at about 3 p.m., Greenbelt police said.
The injured teens, all between 16 and 18 years old, are expected to survive.
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News4 spoke to a student who recorded the heart-pounding rush to safety. It captured the sound of teens celebrating getting cut short by sharp pops of gunfire.
Carlos Mejia recorded a video and shared it with News4 with his mother’s permission. We’ve blurred the video over privacy concerns. Mejia said he’s still rattled by what happened.
“It’s kind of a scary thought, thinking that you and your friends are enjoying yourselves and something like that happens literally not too far from me,” he said.
Mejia – who goes to Bladensburg High School – said the gathering brought together students from several different high schools in the county. He said people were having a good time when, out of nowhere, someone started shooting.
“That’s what senior skip day is all about -- just to enjoy your last days of high school. But as you can see, it wasn’t that in this case,” he said.
“I still can’t process the fact that a couple feet away, people got shot from me and that could’ve been me, you know?” Mejia said.
Dave Bimbai was sitting in his car in the parking lot when he heard the shots. He said it took a long time for medics to make their way through the crowd to those who were hurt.
“It took the ambulance more than 25 minutes to get in, to reach here, because you couldn’t come in,” he said.
Investigators believe there was a single shooter who escaped as a crowd fled but haven’t announced any arrests or information about a potential motive.
Prince George’s officials weigh in on senior skip day tradition
The skip day was not a school-sanctioned event but is a widely known tradition in Prince George’s County.
County Executive Angela Alsobrooks said it was unfair for the teens to have to be unsafe as they enjoyed part of childhood. She blamed an epidemic of gun violence.
“These are environments that should be made safe for our kids. I think the worst thing we can say to our kids is they cannot congregate and come together to celebrate their senior year,” she said.
State’s Attorney Aisha Braveboy said she disagrees with having seniors skip school because of these types of dangers.
“We don’t want to deny any young person the opportunity to really savor these last few days or weeks of high school, but they still have to obey the law and they have to be in school,” she said. “If they had been in school, this would not have happened.”
Greenbelt police said three of the victims have been released from the hospital. One victim who was in critical condition was upgraded to stable condition over the weekend.
There were no cameras in the park. A stationary camera was set up at the entrance on Monday, and additional police were on patrol. The pavilion area was still roped off with crime tape.
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Bimbai, who heard the shots, said he has visited the park every day for years but that it might be time to move on.
“It’s just really, really bad. Everybody got a gun,” he said.
Anyone with potentially relevant information is asked to contact police.
Stay with NBC Washington for more details on this developing story.
