‘It’s maddening’: 5 teens hurt in park shooting during ‘senior skip day’ outing

GREENBELT, Md. — Five teens were shot on Friday at a Maryland park where hundreds of students from several schools had gathered to celebrate a “senior skip day” outing, authorities said.

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Three of the victims were released from an area hospital on Saturday, the Greenbelt Police Department said in a news release. One victim remained hospitalized in stable condition, and a fifth victim was upgraded from critical to stable condition and remained in a hospital, the release stated.

The victims’ ages ranged from 16 to 18 years old, according to WDCW.

According to the Greenbelt Police Department, at least 500 young adults were gathered at around 2:30 p.m. EDT and were told to disperse, WBAL-TV reported. Greenbelt police spokesperson Rico Dennis said many of the young adults were in Schrom Hills Park just outside of the Capital Beltway when officers walking through the crowd heard shots, according to The Washington Post.

Greenbelt Police Department Chief Richard Bowers said during a news conference that when shots were fired, hundreds of students, including the suspect, fled the park and went to a nearby road, CNN reported.

“When they did that, we believe that the suspect left with them, and fled the park,” Bowers told reporters.

Police said the teens had been engaged in a water gun fight when shots were fired, the Post reported.

“This is a horrible, tragic, senseless act that happened today,” Bowers told reporters, according to WJLA-TV. “It is chronic in our society, and we have to do something to stop it. These were kids on senior skip day who were looking to have a good time at a local park and to have something like this occur, it’s just, it’s maddening honestly.”

Bowers told reporters that the suspect was believed to be a male, USA Today reported. An investigation is ongoing.

“Our thoughts are with the families, with the classmates, with the victims,” Greenbelt Mayor Emmett Jordan said. “If a group of high school students cannot get together and have a good time — what is the world coming to.”

Greenbelt is about 15 miles northeast of Washington, D.C.

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