BOSTON (WHDH) - Police have increased patrols at the Jeremiah E. Burke High School in Dorchester after a 17-year-old student was shot outside the school Tuesday morning.
Boston Police said a 17-year-old male student shot another male student at 9:30 a.m. near the school’s front doors. The school was immediately put into “safe mode,” meaning no students were allowed in or out of the building. The victim was taken to a hospital. Officers found the weapon and the 17-year-old suspect shortly after the shooting.
“I’m not used to this kind of stuff, I’ve never seen or heard stuff like this happen before in school,” said student Eona Jackson, describing scenes from inside the school during the incident. “We were just in lock down – our teacher (was) kind of shaken up, she’s like ‘everybody, be quiet.’ We were just like, we have no idea what’s going on.”
Eona’s mother said it was a scary ordeal for her as well, after not initially knowing what was happening
“This is the second time I have to get in touch with my child, telling me what is going on over here,” said Erica Jones. “No teacher’s telling me anything.”
The district said they should have told parents what was happening faster.
“We must communicate with our families swiftly and efficiently; that did not happen as quickly as it should have today and we apologize,” Boston Public Schools Superintendent Mary Skipper said in a statement in part. “We are currently reviewing our internal systems to ensure such a lag in communication never occurs again.”
Tuesday’s shooting came just three weeks after a student stabbed another inside the school.
Boston activist Reverend Eugene Rivers called on city leaders to do more to prevent the violence.
“We’ve got metal detectors in federal buildings, we have metal detectors in courts, but in the most violent areas of the city, you don’t want to put metal detectors,” Rivers said.
Jones said she thinks parents should also do more to help prevent similar incidents from happening in the future.
“Parents need to do a little more better, check their bags, pat them down before they leave and go to school,” Jones said.
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