FREDERICK, Md. — More than a dozen police academy cadets searched a high school athletic field Thursday, eyes trained on the frozen ground for signs of a getaway path possibly used by suspects who shot and wounded two students outside a gymnasium where two basketball games were in progress.
Police were considering gang violence and the rivalry with crosstown opponent Gov. Thomas Johnson High as possible motives for the Wednesday night shooting at Frederick High School. Investigators believe the victims and assailants knew each other, Frederick Police Sgt. Aaron Lapp said in a statement Thursday.
They also were looking into reports from students who said they saw four to five males — dressed in big coats and hands in their pockets — walk into the gymnasium during the game and leave shortly before shots were fired, Capt. Richard Hetherington said.
The shooting left two male students with injuries that were not life-threatening, and sent spectators running for cover as frantic parents rushed to the scene to make sure their children were OK.
The wounded students are 14 and 15, said Denise Pouget, chief of Frederick County Fire and Rescue Services. She said one was shot in a leg, and the other was hit in the back.
