Trooper sent to shooting as his kids fled
WELLINGTON — A Florida Highway Patrol trooper was sent to Friday night’s shooting at Palm Beach Central High even as two of his children were part of the frantic exit from the football stadium, FHP confirmed in a memo.
Bullets struck two people just after 9 p.m. Friday as Central played William T. Dwyer High School in a preseason football game. The gunfire, while outside the stadium, halted the game and sent players, coaches, referees, cheerleaders and fans all racing out of the stands off Forest Hill Boulevard.
The sheriff ’s office so far has refused to reveal the victims’ identities. But family friends have said the less seriously injured of the two is the father of a Dwyer linebacker. Daniel Foster Sr., 39, father of Daniel Foster Jr., was listed in stable condition from a gunshot wound to his torso.
The other victim is a 29-year-old male who was listed in critical but stable condition at a hospital.
The Palm Beach County Sheriff ’s Office has said the incident was not a “school shooting.” At a news briefing Saturday, Sheriff Ric Bradshaw and School District Police Chief Frank Kitzerow said the incident was between two groups of feuding adults.
“It just so happened to be in the parking lot of a school,” Kitzerow said, “but it could have happened anywhere.”
The FHP memo was written on Saturday, the day after the incident, from District Commander Capt. Kevin E. Strickland to Lt. Col. Troy Thompson, the deputy director for the entire agency.
He said 22 FHP troopers raced to the school and helped PBSO deputies both clear the campus and search for clues in the darkness. FHP also flew a drone over the scene. And troopers escorted buses carrying Dwyer players and students back to their campus in Palm Beach Gardens.
One trooper, Marcos Capo, arrived at the stadium soon after his daughter and son were fleeing. Both had been at the game when the shooting broke out.
A sibling later picked them up and got them safely home, the memo said.