Another School shooting: 2 students shot in Philadelphia high school gym

A young male pulled a handgun Friday afternoon inside a Philadelphia high school gymnasium, firing and hitting two fellow students, police said.

The injured boy and girl, each 15, were transported in stable condition after being shot in the arm just before 3:30 p.m., Philadelphia police Lt. John Stanford said.

Another School shooting: 2 students shot in Philadelphia high school gym

Searched both ATS and Google for an ATS thread, but didn't see one.

Thankfully,

He described their wounds as non-life threatening.

So, here we have another school shooting, this one apparently even less severe than the on in Roswell, but ANOTHER one nonetheless—the SAME WEEK.

WTF is going on?

And then it gets even weirder...

A short time later, Philadelphia police tweeted they had a suspect in custody.

But a few hours later, Stanford said that young man was not the shooter as police initially thought, though he was at the scene. He was "completely cleared by investigators and released"

By then, Philadelphia police had announced they were "still looking for additional suspects." This includes searching for a weapon possibly used in the shooting in trash cans, along the tracks and other spots

While a gun hadn't been found by 9 p.m., Stanford said one of the two young males authorities had been looking for had turned himself in.

It is not clear if any of them are, in fact, the shooter. No one had been charged as of Friday night. Asked about what might have prompted the shooting, Ramsey said, "We don't know the motives -- don't know if it was an accident, don't know if it was intentional."

THIS shooting is just weird. No who, no whys, no charges..

Even the DETAILS were sketchy. I remember seeing a MSM tweet about this early this afternoon, a tweet with NO links.

And I have heard NOTHING about it until i get home from work tonight after midnight.

The country is cracking up..

Anyone ever get the feeling that these sort of things occur not because these kids want to kill, but because they want to be heard and yearn for some sort of attention.....good or bad?

reply to post by sheepslayer247


I agree.

It reminds me of the speech in Fight Club: kids are told they'll be something or someone important, and they see all these people raised up on a pedestal, which they're not, and that reality of not getting the attention they think they deserve, combined with the fact that we as a society raise these horrible acts onto our pedestal by giving them constant and undue attention, it creates a very easy but horrific method for achieving the goal of being A) noticed and B) plastered on the media.

:/

Liquesence
reply to post by sheepslayer247

 

It reminds me of the speech in Fight Club: kids are told they'll be something or someone important, and they see all these people raised up on a pedestal, which they're not, and that reality of not getting the attention they think they deserve, combined with the fact that we as a society raise these horrible acts onto our pedestal by giving them constant and undue attention, it creates a very easy but horrific method for achieving the goal of being A) noticed and B) plastered on the media.

Add a little Ritalin and a dash of fluoride to the mix and presto! An entire generation of mouthbreathing, totally batcrap crazy kids. We probably deserve what we're getting for what our culture is doing to them.

Ever since the Columbine shooting, the amount of press and attention these shootings receive has created a generation of kids who use these school shootings as a way to get vengeance for years of being bullied. They relate to these shooters and the attention they received from the media. They're so bent on getting vengeance, and tired that nobody is listening or stopping their bullying, they act out and ignore the consequence of their action or they simply don't care anymore. They feel hopeless and decide to take matters into their own hands. The spotlight is finally on them.

Until schools control bullying, and kids receive the emotional help they need, I don't see the climate of school shootings diminishing.
I do think schools need to start securing their buildings with police actively walking the halls and stationed at the front and rear entrances. It's hard to believe today's school environment has become a place where kids are no longer safe, but at the same time, we can't ignore the reality of schools being the target of this kind of deadly violence. It now seems like it's becoming a monthly occurrence.

All three youths are Delaware Valley Charter High School students. It is not clear if any of them are, in fact, the shooter. No one had been charged as of Friday night.

Asked about what might have prompted the shooting, Ramsey said, "We don't know the motives -- don't know if it was an accident, don't know if it was intentional."

(Op Link

Anyone have updates or locals know more? Sounds like a bit of a mystery on this one... They thought they had they guy 100%...then 100% cleared the first one to find a few others? I'm still kinda hung up on how they supposedly had easy ID on the single one, got him at home..but then cleared him 100%..and so, the ID and reports to them were false?

Something is definitely weird on this one?

Most likely this is a gang-related shooting, whose motivations are entirely different than the random-rage stranger-on-stranger shootings that make the headlines.

Philly is a pretty rough place, lots of gangs and thugs around certain areas. I used to go there a few times a year to attend ECW shows before they got big and went mainstream.

Another one!?

What is going on to cause this?

When did schools become a gun range?

I was in school for most of the 1970s, my older brothers were there in the 60s, my parents the 40s and 50s, and never during any of that, did anyone even think of bringing a B-B gun, much less a rifle or pistol, to school for any reason what-so-ever.

I think that things changed in the late 70s and early 80s.

For one thing, kids weren't getting paddled in school anymore (or much at home for that matter) and so kids began having less fear of authority.

As for bullying, we got our fair share, but I remember that the principal would be involved back then, and he had the biggest paddle to back it up.

IMO, the Hip-Hop culture did some serious damage beginning in the early 80s when it became cool to be "gangsta" and cap people with your glock. That's about the same time home video game systems were introduced and evolving and violent video games started to become popular.

Well, there's my opinion based on my own observations, take it for what it's worth.

reply to post by Wrabbit2000



Having the coffee haven't checked anything yet. Del Co. Is not that far away from here.
It doesn't surprise me though that is was a charter school. Around here, charter schools are dumping grounds from students that have behavioral and emotional problems public schools kick out so the rest can learn.
My SO works in a charter as a support specialist following around a boy that last week alone punched another student, threatened a girl with scissors, issued the threat that "someone was going to get hurt during gym class tomorrow." And this is in addition to his other behavior which is atrocious. The irony is his mother works as a support specialist for a public school and yet has no control over this kid.
Considering in the handbook scissors are a weapon, and this was the kid's THIRD time using them in a threatening manner he should have been expelled. BUT...
Too many people think this is just "kids being kids". In this case HELL NO! It is just a matter of time before these news reports give this little turd an idea...

reply to post by Wrabbit2000


An update, again with very few details (also see following post with more details):

Warrant issued for suspect in Philadelphia school gym shooting

A warrant has been issued for the arrest of a juvenile suspect in a shooting that wounded two students at a Philadelphia school Friday

The suspect is not in custody, but police expect him, accompanied by an attorney, to turn himself in Saturday morning.

The suspect is not in custody but already has an attorney? How many juveniles (if he is a student juvenile) have attorneys on retainer? Has his/her parents already retained their own after he told them something? WTF

"We don't know the motives," Ramsey said, "don't know if it was an accident, don't know if it was intentional."

Many unknowns

Surveillance video captured the incident, Stanford said. But police do not know how many shots were fired, his colleague Ramsey said. One bullet could have struck both victims. No shell was found at the scene.

Emphasis is in the original article.

Second Update with more info:

Linky

Police say video taken from the gymnasium shows the gun going off as it was pulled out. According to an initial investigation, authorities say the shooting appears to be accidental.

Two students, a 16-year-old boy and his 15-year-old girlfriend, were shot in the arm. Police say the bullet went through the female victim and got lodged in the male victim's shoulder.

And

After the shooting, the suspects immediately fled the scene, Commissioner Charles Ramsey said.

One suspect turned himself into authorities but the second suspect remains at large. Police are not releasing either student's identity because they are minors.

@TKDRL
reply to post by TKDRL


You might be on to something. So, it looks like it might have been accidental. Perhaps someone pulled out his new "piece" to show some folks at school, it went off, they got scared and bolted. Sounds reasonable enough? :/

reply to post by Liquesence


Wouldn't be the first time some idiot didn't know how to put the safety on. Or though it was not loaded and didn't know how to check and make sure. Etc etc.

TKDRL
Philly is a pretty rough place, lots of gangs and thugs around certain areas. I used to go there a few times a year to attend ECW shows before they got big and went mainstream.

Yup. This one is guaranteed to be gang and thug related. Philly is the enema hole of the universe.

TKDRL
Philly is a pretty rough place, lots of gangs and thugs around certain areas. I used to go there a few times a year to attend ECW shows before they got big and went mainstream.

Not to hijack the thread but...

ECW never went mainstream, they closed the doors/shutdown then the WWE purchased the wreckage then tried to capitalize on what they had done. I live 2 blocks from the ECW arena , was able to attend just about every even they had and used to see the Sandman and others around here all the time.

Update:

Philadelphia School Shooting Suspect Surrenders to Authorities

The student wanted in the shooting of two fellow students in a Philadelphia high school gymnasium surrendered himself to authorities today, police say.

The juvenile suspect, accompanied by his lawyer, turned himself into police and was taken into custody around 1 p.m. ET, authorities said. The charges against the student include two counts of aggravated assault.

ANNNNND:

The School HAD METAL DETECTORS (were they working??)

There are metal detectors at the school, and police said they are investigating how the student managed to get the gun into the building.

"When you first walk in you have to take off your jacket and go through the scanner," one parent, Bernadette Hokins-Jones, told WPVI. "The office is just a couple feet through the glass door but I just want to know how did you get a gun in there."

Another update:

A 17-year-old teenager has been charged as an adult in the shooting of two students in the gymnasium of a Philadelphia high school.

Raisheem Rochwell turned himself in for arrest Saturday and was charged by Philadelphia police with aggravated assault, weapons possession and other offenses. Bail was set at $500,000.

While Samita said it was too early to say how the teenager would plead, citing a preliminary hearing next week, he said Rochwell is not the person who would ultimately be found at fault for the shooting.

His lawyer believes he will be found not at fault? Even if

“It’s pretty clear from all the investigation done by all parties that nothing was done in a malicious manner,” said Samita. “No evidence anything was done intentionally.”

?

Even if it was done neither intentionally nor maliciously, and was in fact an "accident," he is still responsible.

Link