BALTIMORE, Md. — Baltimore police could be seen circling Walter P. Carter Elementary/Middle School and detectives still searching the grounds for evidence after a 15-year-old girl was shot there on Wednesday.
“I’m all in for whatever needs to be done, because I do have a child and it’s very unfortunate,” said Ikea Whitlock.
“Said it was a young girl shot in the head, you know? After hours,” added Michael Gordon whose eight-year-old son attends the school.
The shooting came as a prayer service neared its conclusion just across the street at Kingsway Bible Baptist Church.
“As I was sitting in my chair, I kept seeing the flashing light from the ambulance, flashing,” Deacon Ellery Johnson told WMAR-2 News, “I said, ‘They must be over at the school.’”
At last report, the victim who were told is a freshman at Mervo High School, remains in critical condition, and the gunman remains at large.
School police provided additional security, as classes resumed on Thursday.
In addition to enhanced security, the school system also has brought in crisis management teams both at Walter P. Carter and at Mervo in hopes of providing counseling to the staff and the students who are seeking help, as the city grapples with a growing trend of juveniles being targeted with violence.
“I said, ‘You can’t even pray in peace with the enemy always around showing his hand,’ said Johnson, “I mean we, as a people, need to do something.”
