One teen who was killed Tuesday was among five Philadelphia high school students who were shot following a football scrimmage, police said.
The shooting occurred around 4:40 p.m. at Roxborough High School in the rear of the campus, the Philadelphia Police Department said. The shots rang out following a scrimmage between Roxborough, Northeast High School and Boys Latin High School, police said.
After the scrimmage, two gunmen “ambushed” a group — believed to be Roxborough football players — walking near the school and shot five students, Deputy Police Commissioner John Stanford told reporters at the scene.
“There’s one family that their son won’t make it home today,” he said.
Responding officers initially found two 14-year-olds, a 17-year-old and another victim suffering from gunshot wounds, according to preliminary information from authorities, Fox Philadelphia reported.
The victims were taken to Temple University Hospital and Einstein Medical Center. One of the 14-year-olds died, police said. A fifth student was treated at the scene for a graze wound.
“I am absolutely outraged, I’m shocked. Quite frankly, I’m a little shaken,” Philadelphia County District Attorney Larry Krasner said. “Schools are supposed to be the answer, they’re supposed to be the answer; we keep kids in schools so they don’t get involved in shooting.”
No arrests have been made. Authorities were looking for at least two shooters.
“Schools used to be a safe haven for our young people,” special adviser on school safety Kevin Bethel told reporters. “To see that now our young people can’t even come to a scrimmage game and be shot is totally unacceptable.”
The suspects fled from the scene on foot. Investigators will review footage from video cameras in the area, police said.
Fox News has reached out to the School District of Philadelphia.
The shooting came as the city approached 400 killings as of Monday, according to police data. Philadelphia experienced 404 homicides in the same time frame last year.
