Perry Hall High School In Maryland Shut Down For The Day After Cafeteria Shooting On First Day

It’s the first of school and while most students are thrilled to be back in class amongst their friends, excitedly planning out the rest of their school year functions and activities, Perry Hall High School students are spending their first day back to school in tears and in fear.

According to the Baltimore Sun, 15 minutes after the lunch bell rang and students piled into the cafeteria to get their afternoon nutrition, a 15 year old student opened fired severely injuring another student, age 17,  sending the school in an instant panic.

“I saw people getting under the table,” Wienecke said. “Then I saw people running. We heard this huge boom, then there was another one, everything happened very fast.”

Senior Arielle Brown said students were in the cafeteria for about 15 minutes when they heard a pop, a sound she compared to the opening of a bag of chips.

Both students said a guidance counselor and a teacher intervened, embracing the shooter in a bear hug and pinning him up against a nearby vending machine.

Students hid under tables while some fled the cafeteria after the first shot rang through the halls of the school.  That shot, followed by four more, caused the school to be completely shut down with students being transported to nearby shopping mall where they were told to wait for parents.

The injured student, whose name has not been released, was transported to via Medevac helicopter to the University of Maryland hospital where as of now, he is still in critical condition.

There is no word on motive or cause, but officials do not believe that the victim was the intended target as they are unsure if there ever was an actual target in mind.

[Source 1, Source 2]