A 17-year-old female student was grazed in the head by a stray bullet that flew through a window at her Washington D.C. school classroom on Friday morning – during a wild shoot-out outside the facility.
The victim suffered non-life-threatening injuries after a hail of bullets smashed through Dunbar High School just before 10 a.m., police say.
She was rushed to the hospital where she is currently receiving treatment and is expected to make a full recovery, law enforcement officials say.
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The school was placed on lockdown and there is no active shooter inside the school. Dunbar High School is about 1.5 miles east of Downtown Washington D.C.
The shocking incident occurred when opposing suspects clashed outside the school and exchanged gunfire, James Boteler, the commander of the Third District said at a press briefing.
“There were several rounds that did go through the glass windows at Dunbar,” said Boteler, who added that he believed the victim was in a classroom at the time.
“A vehicle traveled the wrong way on the 1200 Block at Kirby Street Northwest. Once the vehicle was about halfway up the block, there was a series of gunshots followed by some more gunshots.”
“At this time we believe there was an exchange of gunfire in that block among individuals. However, the motive remains unknown.”
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Police say the shooting was not directed at the school. It is unclear how many suspects were involved in the shooting and they remain at large.
A resident in the neighborhood tells Fox 5 DC that he heard the shots being fired and it sounded similar to automatic fire.
“About 20, 30 shots, while we were sitting there with the window open, watching our kids…we knew immediately… we are used to this,” said the resident, who added he has served in Afghanistan.
“We’ve heard this many times in this area… this is not OK.”
The enraged resident went on to blast city officials who he says are not prosecuting enough suspects when it comes to gun crime.
Mayor Bowser arrived on the scene but has yet to say anything about the incident, Fox 5 reports.
Joyce Robinson-Paul, who is a member of the local neighborhood advisory commission, says the community is being “bombarded” with gun crime and drugs.
“How many shootings do you all have to have before you all understand that this neighborhood is under siege,” Robinson-Paul said.
“How it’s got to this point, bad leaders. You need good people that care about children.”
