A teenager opened fire in the hallway at a Manhattan high school, seriously wounding two fellow students in what authorities said may have been a dispute over a girl.
The shooting yesterday on Manhattan's Upper West Side occurred at Martin Luther King Jr High School on what would have been the 73rd birthday of the apostle of non-violence. The public school has 3,000 students.
School chancellor Mr Harold Levy at first said the shooting may have been gang-related, but later said authorities believed the shooting was because of a dispute concerning a girl. He said the suspect was an 18-year-old who had not been attending school.
No arrests had been made in the case by last night, police spokesman Lt. Brian Burke said.
"We were in school and we heard two gunshots," said senior Romain Morrison, 17. "They were telling everyone to get out of the hallways."
Authorities said Andrel Napper, 17, and Andre Wilkins, 18, were shot from behind in a fourth-floor hallway. One was shot in the back and the other in the buttocks, and both were said to be in a serious condition.
Wilkins' father, Mr Wadell Parks, said he was grateful his son wasn't paralysed.
"The only thing we've got to deal with now is this issue of how this other child, because he's a child as well, got into the school with a gun and was able to try to kill my son and another of his classmates," Mr Parks said.
A .380-calibre handgun was found on the fifth floor, along with three shell casings, authorities said.
The school was swiftly locked down and students kept in their classrooms as police in riot gear swept the building in Amsterdam Avenue.
"They wanted us to be in the room, locked up until they had things under control," said senior Giorlys Alvarez, 17, who was locked in a classroom for more than an hour.
AP