Police announced Saturday that they have made an arrest in a shooting that sent two young teens to local hospitals in Woodbridge last week on Aug. 27.
A 17-year-old boy has been arrested in the case. He is charged with one count of aggravated malicious wounding, one count of attempted aggravated malicious wounding, two counts of the use of a firearm in commission of a felony, one count of robbery, one count of discharging a firearm in a public place and one count of assault by mob.
According to the Prince William County Police Department, the shooting happened in the parking lot of Freedom High School in Woodbridge just after 9 p.m. after a football game ended due to rain.
Officers reported that a 15-year-old boy was shot in the lower body and a 14-year-old girl was grazed by a bullet on her foot. Both were taken to a nearby hospital. They were classmates at Colgan High School in the school district, according to a PWCPS spokesperson and attended the game before it came to an end.
An investigation revealed that on the night of the shooting, two groups of individuals were involved in a fight that occurred in the parking lot of the school, according to police. They went on to confirm that during the altercation, one group, which included the suspect, demanded and then took money from those in the other group.
At one point, the suspect took out a gun and shot into a nearby crowd. Neither of the young teens who were shot were involved in the initial argument.
Following the investigation, detectives said that they obtained juvenile petitions against the suspect, who was ultimately located and arrested on September 3 by members of the U.S. Marshals Fugitive Task Force in North Carolina.
The 17-year-old will remain in custody there until he is extradited to Virginia.
“There was a lot of panic and scattering after the incident," Prince William County Police First Sergeant Jonathan Perok said. "Our officers were actually already here providing security for the game. We had the area locked down pretty quickly and contained."
Perok said some of the attendees of the game scattered into the school for safety after the shooting.
Melissa Boggan said her tenth-grade daughter was one of the people who fled inside.
"She told me that she first thought it was Fourth of July poppers till she saw someone drop to the floor," Boggan said.
Boggan said she texted her daughter steps of how to protect herself until she could get to her as she hid in a classroom.
"It was hard to find out where she was because she was crying so hard and I could hear people crying and yelling in the background," Boggan said.
Perok said officers there were officers already positioned at the school serving as security for the game. He said that allowed them to help and figure things out quickly.
“You never know what these situations, especially when you have a large crowd of folks, you know, anyone could have been struck by it when you have kind of random gunfire," Perok said.
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