ROCKVILLE, Md. (AP) — A 16-year-old student was shot inside a suburban Maryland high school on Monday and another student was in custody, police said.
One student was found with a gunshot wound in a hallway and was taken to a hospital in stable condition, the Rockville City Police Department said in a post on Facebook.
The suspect was also a 16-year-old student, the department said. He was identified and arrested near the school shortly after. Both students were boys.
“At this time, there is no further threat to public safety,” police said.
Officers were dispatched at 2:15 p.m. because of reports of shots fired at Thomas S. Wootton High School in Rockville, a suburb of Washington, D.C., the department said.
Investigators were still looking for the firearm used in the shooting, Rockville Police Chief Jason West said at a news conference. The alleged shooter’s motive was still under investigation, he said. Authorities didn’t find any other suspects after a search.
Other students were in the area during the shooting and were being interviewed, West said.
Heather Rodriguez, whose daughter is in the ninth grade at Wootton, said she jumped in her car and drove to the school in a rush of panic and adrenaline after she heard about shooting. She stood outside the school for several hours, and her daughter texted that she had heard gunshots, that the school was in lockdown and police were everywhere.
“Everyone’s acting like we are going to die,” she said her daughter texted. “If anything happens, I love you.”
Other parents had been glued to their phones trying to communicate with their children.
Mental health support was available for students and their families, said Thomas W. Taylor, the superintendent of Montgomery County Public Schools.
“Today is a heartbreaking and deeply unsettling day for our entire community,” Taylor said. “The kids and our staff are emotionally exhausted and understandably traumatized by today’s events.”
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