RICHMOND, Va. -- Parents and young people are shaken after two students were shot in the parking lot outside George Wythe High School in South Richmond during the school day Thursday.
Acting Richmond Police Chief Rick Edwards said officers responded to George Wythe High School for a report of shots fired just after 12 p.m.
"Within one minute one of our officers from Third Precinct arrived on the scene," Edwards said said. "Three minutes later he found a juvenile male in the parking lot suffering from a gunshot wound."
The 16-year-old shooting victim was taken to the hospital with life-threatening injuries.
"While we were at this scene, working this case, a second juvenile male self transported to another local hospital suffering with a non life threatening gunshot wound," Edwards added. "We believe both are students here at George Wythe."
Information about a suspect shooter and the reasons behind the shooting were not yet shared.
Student learned about George Wythe shooting on Instagram
Parents and students said that the fear of not knowing if the shooting happened inside or outside the school — when the school school first went on lockdown — was unnerving.
One student recounted hearing the alarms go off that indicated the doors were being shut and secured and everyone moved away from the door into lockdown mode. That eventually shifted to lock-and-teach mode before students were dismissed at 4 p.m.
The teen said she was unsure of what exactly had happened until friends messaged her on Instagram to let her know.
"If it wasn't for them, I wouldn't have known nothing," Megan, a senior at the high school, said. "I was just worried if something had happened inside the school. Because at the time, I didn't know it was outside, so that just made me really nervous."
For parents, it was a mixture of text messages or frantic phone calls letting them know what was happening. Some rushed to the school only to have to wait outside for hours before they could see their kids.
"I called her and when she on video, we video chatting and when she put the video and she was under her desk and I'm like, 'What's going on?' She's like 'Mom, they said there was a shooting at the school,'" Maria, the parent of a junior said. "I said, 'Are you all safe?' She said, 'Yeah, we're good. We're OK. But the school is just on lockdown.'"
Markell, a senior who was off school grounds, came rushing back to get his younger brother.
"The he called and said he was Ok. Said he was in the classroom, so it was all good.," Markell said. "But I'm happy he wasn't outside or I wasn't outside when they started shooting."
And while eventually reunited with her kids, said it is devastating for the families of the victims.
"Our kids are going home, but somebody's child's not going home," she said. "[They're] just going to have to boost up security over here to school some more to make sure all these kids are inside the school and not hanging around outside."
One student said she was worried about more violence.
"I'm glad that I'm leaving," Megan said. "But at the same time, I don't know what's gonna happen as like, the week goes on, because like anything to happen these next couple of days."
As a result, some students said they do not plan to come back to school tomorrow because of safety concerns.
"We've got to look out for these kids," Maria said. "Figure out how these babies are getting the hold of these guns and put a stop to it."
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Edwards said officers are actively working the case, interviewing witnesses as well as reviewing camera footage to "get to the bottom of what happened."
"[We believe there was] only one shooter but other people involved that we're looking for," Edwards said.
Richmond School Superintendent Jason Kamras had this message for the community.
"We need the entire village, all of Richmond to support us. The amount of gun violence in the city has just got to stop. We're asking for everybody to pitch in on that effort. There are too many guns in the city, and they're being used too often," he said. "Our thoughts, our prayers, our hearts are with the families of the victims this afternoon and we are praying for their recovery."
If you have information that could help investigators, call Detective K. Hyde at 804-646-3613 or Crime Stoppers at 804-780-1000. The P3 Tips Crime Stoppers app for smartphones also may be used. All Crime Stoppers reporting methods are anonymous.
