Child critically shot at game; six charged

Six men have been charged after a shooting at a New Jersey high school football game that critically wounded a 10-year-old boy and sent players and the packed crowd fleeing in panic.

Ibn Abdullah, 27, was the target of the Friday night shooting and was charged because a gun was found on him when emergency responders went to his aid, authorities said. He is in stable condition and will be undergoing surgery.

The 10-year-old remained in critical condition Saturday. A 15-year-old boy was treated for a graze wound.

The shooting happened in the stands of a Friday night playoff game between the Camden Panthers and the Pleasantville Greyhounds. Authorities said it did not appear that any of the men charged had any connection to the game.

“Our community will not be held hostage by a few idiots intent on jeopardizing our safety and the safety of our children,” Atlantic County Prosecutor Damon Tyner said Saturday in a news release.

Tyner said the shooting was “petty vengeance against one another.”

Alvin Wyatt, 31, of Atlantic City, was charged with three counts of attempted murder and two weapons counts. He was captured on the football field moments after the shooting by a Pleasantville officer who was part of the game’s security detail.

Three other men face weapons charges, and a fourth faces weapons and eluding charges.

Officials said the game will resume Tuesday at a neutral field, with no spectators allowed.

AP/The Philadelphia Inquirer/TYGER WILLIAMS Sean Riggin, the police chief of Pleasantville, N.J., speaks Saturday at Pleasantville High School after the shooting at a football game Friday night.