Baltimore high school student fatally shot during dismissal

BALTIMORE (AP) — A Baltimore student was shot and killed in a confrontation with a student from another high school during dismissal Friday afternoon, officials said.

Students at Mergenthaler Vocational Technical High School were leaving for the day when one was approached in the yard by a student from another school, police Commissioner Michael Harrison said at a news conference. Their interaction became heated and the student from the other school produced a gun and fired multiple times at the Mergenthaler student, he said.

The shooter fled but was caught by school police officers, who were outside during dismissal, and a gun was found near where the arrest was made, Harrison said. The student who was shot was taken to a hospital, where he was pronounced dead a short time later, he said.

“This is an extremely tragic situation, beyond tragic, happening on the grounds of a school in the beginning of the school year as school is opening,” Harrison said.

“This is a tragedy that almost has me at a loss for words, as this is the first week of school, ” Mayor Brandon Scott said at the news conference. Scott, an alumnus of the school, was already scheduled to be at the school Friday afternoon, he said. “When we have this loss of life in this way, I want us all to take a moment to really think about what that means for our young people. What we had to do in dealing with a school full of children who are crying yet again because they lost another classmate and what that means.”