Outrage follows football game shooting
Posted by COREY MITCHELL AND LANIA COLEMAN/THE SAGINAW NEWS October 25, 2007 08:13AM
A Saginaw Arthur Hill High School sophomore shot Wednesday near his former middle school likely will survive attempt on his life but may never walk again, police said.
The 16-year-old remained in critical condition this morning at Covenant Medical Center in Saginaw with injuries he suffered in a Wednesday shooting during a football game at South Middle School.
"(The critically injured teen) was the (target), and it was something about an altercation or disagreement earlier in the day," said Saginaw Police Chief Gerald H. Cliff.
The teen and an Arthur Hill freshman were among four people struck by bullets when the suspected gunman, a freshman at Arthur Hill, opened fire with hundreds of spectators milling around during halftime.
Police had the 15-year-old suspect in custody less than an hour after the shooting, investigators said.
"Shooting at a football game, in broad daylight with literally hundreds of people around? I am outraged," said Saginaw School District Superintendent Gerald D. Dawkins.
Dawkins was chatting with parents and staff at the game when the shots went off.
"There are demons lurking around this community," he said. "This entire community had better wake up."
Doctors at Covenant Medical Center treated and released the freshman victim and two adults, a male and female, all whom suffered gunshot wounds to the legs, said Saginaw Police Sgt. Brent Vander Haar.
"This whole thing was scary," Vander Haar said outside Covenant on Wednesday night.
"There were a lot of people around."
Parents picking up their children from the game arrived to a scene of chaos: Investigators combing for shell casings, emergency crews loading a teenager on a stretcher and dazed children.
The shots caused the crowd to scatter. Many young teens who attended the game with friends were in tears. Adults were stunned.
Saginaw County Prosecutor Michael D. Thomas, a South Middle alumni, couldn't "remotely picture anything like this happening at a football game," he said.
"This is not the way civilized society is supposed to act."
Posted by COREY MITCHELL AND LANIA COLEMAN/THE SAGINAW NEWS October 25, 2007 08:13AM
A Saginaw Arthur Hill High School sophomore shot Wednesday near his former middle school likely will survive attempt on his life but may never walk again, police said.
The 16-year-old remained in critical condition this morning at Covenant Medical Center in Saginaw with injuries he suffered in a Wednesday shooting during a football game at South Middle School.
"(The critically injured teen) was the (target), and it was something about an altercation or disagreement earlier in the day," said Saginaw Police Chief Gerald H. Cliff.
The teen and an Arthur Hill freshman were among four people struck by bullets when the suspected gunman, a freshman at Arthur Hill, opened fire with hundreds of spectators milling around during halftime.
Police had the 15-year-old suspect in custody less than an hour after the shooting, investigators said.
"Shooting at a football game, in broad daylight with literally hundreds of people around? I am outraged," said Saginaw School District Superintendent Gerald D. Dawkins.
Dawkins was chatting with parents and staff at the game when the shots went off.
"There are demons lurking around this community," he said. "This entire community had better wake up."
Doctors at Covenant Medical Center treated and released the freshman victim and two adults, a male and female, all whom suffered gunshot wounds to the legs, said Saginaw Police Sgt. Brent Vander Haar.
"This whole thing was scary," Vander Haar said outside Covenant on Wednesday night.
"There were a lot of people around."
Parents picking up their children from the game arrived to a scene of chaos: Investigators combing for shell casings, emergency crews loading a teenager on a stretcher and dazed children.
The shots caused the crowd to scatter. Many young teens who attended the game with friends were in tears. Adults were stunned.
Saginaw County Prosecutor Michael D. Thomas, a South Middle alumni, couldn't "remotely picture anything like this happening at a football game," he said.
"This is not the way civilized society is supposed to act."
