Shooting after basketball game leaves 1 hospitalized
A person was sent to the hospital Friday night after a shooting at Wekiva High School after a boys basketball game, according to Orange County Sheriff ’s Office.
At 9:08 p.m., deputies arrived to the school at 2501 Hiawassee Rd. in Apopka and found a man in his teens who had been shot. OCSO said the victim was taken to the nearest hospital and was in stable condition.
The agency said in a Twitter post that deputies were looking for the person or people responsible.
The school had a boys basketball game vs. Edgewater High School. In a recorded message to parents Saturday, Edgewater Principal Heather Kreider said the incident happened in a parking lot near the school’s gym and a “lockdown” was imposed while police took charge of the scene.
By 11 p.m., the campus was cleared and considered safe, the sheriff ’s office said. Apopka police and Orange County deputies are investigating.
Melissa Byrd, the Orange County School Board member whose districts includes Wekiva High, said in a statement Saturday morning that she was “completely devastated” by the news of the latest shooting.
“I am heartbroken that our children — our babies — have been affected by unimaginable violence in what should be a safe space,” she wrote in a message she posted to her school board Facebook page. “As a school board member who lies awake at night worrying about how to keep over 200,000 children safe daily and a mom who sends her baby to this high school everyday, I am completely devastated this morning.”
Byrd said she is working with Superintendent Maria Vazquez and other community leaders on how to address “discipline concerns within our schools” and “violence in our communities.”
“We all must take this horror seriously and work together to find solutions so our families do not have to worry about this happening anywhere in our hometown ever again,” Byrd added.
The incident comes nearly two months after the Nov. 12 shooting in the parking lot after a Jones High School football playoff game. A 19-year-old was shot to death and two teens in Orlando were later arrested.