Ten children wounded after shooting at high school football match
A shooting at a high school football game in Mobile, Alabama, on Friday night wounded at least 10 people, police said.
The city’s police chief, Lawrence Battiste, said at a news conference Friday that the victims were between 15 and 18 years old, according to local station WKRG 5. Their conditions were not immediately available.
One person suffered a seizure and another injured his hand in an attempt to escape, Mr Battiste said. It was not clear whether they were among those who had been shot.
Deangelo Dejuan Parnell, 17, was charged with nine counts of attempted murder, Lori Myles, public affairs director for the Mobile County Sheriff’s Office, said Saturday. A motive for the shooting was not immediately known.
Students were gathered at Ladd-Peebles Stadium on Friday night for a game between LeFlore High School and Williamson High School when the gunfire erupted.
Footage from the game on social media showed attendees and football players getting on the ground and taking cover under the bleachers as screams were heard in the background.
“Why are young people bringing this type of violence to public events?” Mr Battiste said during the news conference. “They’re bringing their beefs that they have with each other in neighbourhoods, and they are putting other people in harm’s way.”
A clear-bag policy is in effect for major events like University of South Alabama games; it was unclear whether high school football games fell under that category.
Mr Battiste said he was “disappointed” that a mass shooting had occurred in Mobile. “This is juvenile violence taken to a public venue for the purpose of harming somebody in a public setting,” he said.
New York Times
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