RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — A 14-year-old student opened fire Monday with a pistol in the hallway of a high school as students took final exams, wounding a basketball coach and a volunteer aide, police said.
The injuries weren’t life-threatening, doctors said. Several students were in the hallway at the time of the shooting, and investigators believe one of them was the intended target, not the coach or aide, police said.
The student was arrested and will be charged as an adult with two counts of aggravated assault and two counts of using a firearm in a felony. Police refused to identify him.
Monday’s violence follows recent fatal school shootings in West Paducah, Ky.; Pearl, Miss.; Jonesboro, Ark.; and Springfield, Ore.
The boy was held in the Richmond Juvenile Detention Center pending a detention hearing Tuesday.
The shooting followed an argument earlier in the day between two groups of juveniles but was not gang-related, said Deputy Police Chief Theresa Gooch. Witnesses said nine or 10 shots were fired.
The shots were fired from a .32-caliber Llama semiautomatic handgun, police said.
Ron Brown, a police officer assigned to the school, heard shots and called in an alarm to the police station. He then chased down the suspect and arrested him three blocks away.
A second teen was held for questioning, but was not involved in the shooting.
Gregory Carter, 45, a basketball coach and a history teacher for 20 years at the school, underwent a 40-minute operation to remove a bullet from his abdomen. He was in stable condition and expected to fully recover.
Eloise Wilson, 74, a volunteer aide, suffered a flesh wound when a bullet grazed her right arm. She was treated and released.
Students were in classrooms taking exams on the next-to-last day of school when the shooting occurred around 10 a.m.
Two shot at high school in Richmond, Va.
Published June 16, 1998
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