Teen in Critical Condition After Frederick High School Shooting

One of the two teens who was shot outside a Maryland high school Wednesday night is in critical condition.

Students will return to Frederick High School for the first time Friday. Two days ago, shots rang out about 8 p.m. outside the school's gymnasium along Carroll Parkway, where a junior varsity basketball game was being played.

"I heard five shots really quickly. Not quite automatic, but really fast shots," Frederick resident Tom Thompson said.

Investigators also are looking into reports from students who said they saw four to five males — dressed in big coats and hands in their pockets — walk into the gymnasium during the game and leave shortly before the gunfire rang out.

The shooter or shooters are believed to have fled the scene on foot, and police believe the victims were targeted.

"Gunshots going off around a gym packed with kids … You can imagine, everybody’s running," Frederick Police Capt. Richard Hetherington said.

The two injured students, who did not attend Frederick High School, were flown to a hospital in Baltimore. One of them is now in critical condition, according to a hospital spokesperson.

One was shot in the leg and the other was shot in the back. Hetherington did not know the students' ages or genders.

Police said they're investigating a range of possibilities regarding the motive behind the shooting, including reports from students that it could be gang-related or stem from a rivalry between the two schools playing in the game. They've interviewed about 200 witnesses so far.

"We have gang problems like any one else ... it's certainly an angle we're not overlooking," Hetherington added. "We're hoping some of the video we acquire can coroborate how many people we're actually looking for."

School was closed Thursday for the police investigation, but will reopen Friday.

Late Wednesday, parents waited outside a nearby bowling alley for their children to be released following a lockdown, which ended about two hours after the shooting.

"[I] just want to see my son and make sure he's straight and everything is good ... make sure his mind is in the right place," parent Shawn Rodriguez said.

Frederick High School, on the city's west side, has about 1,300 students. The school district said in a statement that the high school and West Frederick Middle School would be closed Thursday for students.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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