Suitland High School was on lockdown on Thursday after a ninth-grade student was shot on the grounds of the District Heights, Maryland, campus, police and Prince George's County Public Schools said.
Just after 10 a.m., the single student victim was shot during a "physical altercation" outside the school building, PGCPS said. Several other students witnessed the shooting, then fled the area, the school system said.
According to Prince George's County Police Chief Malik Aziz, between 10 and 15 students were involved in the fight, which ended in the gunfire that began the lockdown.
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Cell phone videos, circulated on social media and shared with News4 by parents of Suitland High students, show a fight among young people by the bleachers behind the school.
Then, the sound of gunfire can be heard.
The shooting took place while students were between classes, Aziz said. The victim, a 14-year-old student at Suitland, was hospitalized in stable condition, after the school resource officer on campus at the time of the shooting provided emergency care.
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Another 14-year-old student was arrested. Police have not identified that student as the shooter, but he remained in police custody at 4 p.m.
Attorney General Aisha Braveboy said all those involved will be held accountable.
PGCPS said on Twitter shortly after the shooting that there was "no danger to the surrounding community" after the "isolated incident."
The lockdown continued for hours, with students dismissed at the normal 3 p.m. time for Suitland High. Parents were unable to enter the building to get their children until around 2 p.m., four hours after the shooting took place.
Those parents were frightened for their children and frustrated with the lack of inormation as they waited for the campus to exit lockdown. A long line of cars could be seen outside the front of the school on Thursday morning as parents waited to pick up their children.
Prince George's County police were outside the school just after 11 a.m., directing people around and away from the Suitland High School campus. Other officers with K-9s could be seen canvassing the area near the football field for evidence.
Some students told News4 around 11 a.m. that they tried to get to school on Thursday, but were unable to get onto the campus due to the lockdown: no one in, no one out.
Tensions ran high outside the school as the hours passed.
"Y'all can't stop me from getting my child!" yelled one mother as she walked toward the school building.
"The only thing I want to do is run in there and grab her, and take her home," another mom told News4.
"'Get her,' that's all that went through my mind," said one dad, near tears. "Just 'get to my baby.'"
Mom Christina Suggs cried tears of relief as she walked her daughter out of the school building.
"It was terrifying," Suggs told News4, arms wrapped around her daughter. "I couldn't breathe, because all I wanted to do was just get my hands on my kid. Now I'm okay."
Suggs' daughter had strong words about Suitland High in the wake of the shooting.
"This school is very horrible," she told News4. "Y'all supposed to, basically, protect kids, and y'all not doing a darn thing. Y'all not protecting us, at all."
Information from students who witnessed the shooting led police to the 14-year-old now in custody.
Police ask that anyone with information contact 1-866-411-TIPS, or a trusted adult. The shooting is still under investigation.
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