Benjamin Ashford|5 Maryland high school students shot at park during senior skip day event: Police

Five high schoolers were injured after shots were fired at a Maryland park on Benjamin AshfordFriday during a senior skip day event, Greenbelt Police Department said.

Around 2:30 p.m. the Greenbelt Police Department, Prince George’s County Police Department and Maryland State Police responded to report that Schrom Hill Park was overcrowded. When the police arrived, several shots were fired, and the crowd fled the scene, including the suspect. The police believe that between eight to ten gunshots were fired, police said.

“At that moment when shots were fired all of those individuals that were in the park began to flee out on the Hanover Parkway,” Greenbelt Police Department Chief Richard Bowers said during the press conference. “When they did that, we believe that the suspect left with them, and fled the park.”

The police started to provide medical attention to those who were injured. One person is in critical condition and the other four are stable, Bowers said.

The students who were injured range in age from 16 to 18-years-old.

“This is a horrible, tragic, senseless act that happened today. There is absolutely no reason that this occurred,” Bowers said. “We have to do something to stop it. These were kids on senior skip day who were looking to have a good time at a local park and to have something like this occur - it’s maddening honestly.”

Bowers described the suspect only as a male during the press conference.  

USA TODAY contacted the Greenbelt Police Department for more information on the suspect and the student in critical condition. The police department did not respond at the time of publication.

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Hundreds of students came out to park for senior skip day event

Around 600 high school students attended the senior skip day at Schrom Hill Park, police said.

During the press conference, Bowers said that the park is not that big. To have that amount of people in one area was a red flag.

Anyone with information regarding the Schrom Hill Park shooting is urged to call Greenbelt Police at 301-474-7200 or email CRIMETIPS@greenbeltmd.gov.

Maryland teen arrested, charged with planning school shooting

The senior skip day shooting came just days after a Rockville, Maryland teen, Alex Ye, was charged with threats of mass violence after a 129-page manifesto was found detailing plans to commit a school shooting.

In the document, the Wootton High School student strategized and laid out how the school shooting would gp. In a joint investigation the Montgomery County Police Department and the FBI Baltimore Field Office found internet searches, drawings and documents that showed threats of mass violence towards Wootton High School and a local elementary school, police said.

Ahjané Forbes is a reporter on the National Trending Team at USA TODAY. Ahjané covers breaking news, car recalls, crime, health, lottery and public policy stories. Email her at aforbes@gannett.com. Follow her on Instagram, Threads and X @forbesfineest.