School Shooting Victims Critical

Two eighth graders who shot each other in a New Orleans schoolyard were in critical condition Wednesday, with one facing felony charges when he recovers.

Police said it wasn't clear what prompted the argument between the two boys, 13 and 15, that ended when they traded shots in the school's crowded passageway shortly before noon on Tuesday. Detectives believed the dispute started several hours before the shooting.

The younger boy got the gun, a .38-caliber revolver, from outside a chain-link fence and shot the 15-year-old, only to have the older youth grab the gun and shoot him in the back as he ran away, police Lt. Marlon Defillo said.

The 13-year-old will be booked with attempted murder when he is released from the hospital, Defillo said.

Shot in the chest, the older boy had a kidney and spleen removed during surgery. Hospital spokesman Jerry Romig said Wednesday that it was likely that both youths will recover fully.

A third boy allegedly passed the gun through the fence. He is a former student at the school who had recently been expelled for fighting, police said. He faces felony charges and was arrested without incident about five hours after the shooting at his home in a nearby housing project, Defillo said.

Dozens of students were in the passageway and hundreds were in a nearby cafeteria when the shots were fired. Teachers kept them inside classrooms while the two wounded boys were taken to Charity Hospital.

CBS Affiliate WWL-TV Reporter Patrick Evans says over 100 parents, hearing of the shooting on noon television broadcasts, rushed to the school, where they lined up as officials let them in a few at a time to pick up their children.

Several fights had been reported over the past few weeks at the 600-student school, which sits in a poor neighborhood next to a rundown housing project.

One mother says recent violence at the school had made her daughter fearful even before the shooting.

"She was afraid to come to school two weeks ago because boys were fighting," Veronica Lewis said as she hugged her daughter Neshetta, 14, outside the building. "I told her she'd be all righ. Now I'm just afraid for my child."

Each morning, students the school entering step through metal detectors while security officers patrol the grounds.

But school superintendent Alfonse Davis denied that the shooting was linked to any previous violence. "There's no connection between this incident and any past incidents," he said.

Classes at the Carter G. Woodson Middle School were canceled until Monday, although the school will remain open for students who want to talk with counselors. Two or three police officers will be assigned to the school when it reopens, in addition to the usual 10 assigned to the neighborhood.

More gunfire erupted Wednesday in the area near the school, but police said there was no connection to Tuesday's shooting. One 18-year-old was wounded and another 18-year-old was arrested.

It happened about two blocks from the school, despite the increased police patrols in the area. Capt. Michael Ellington, police spokesman, said officers on foot patrol heard the gunfire, ran to the scene, and chased down the gunman.

However, he said, the gunman tossed away the weapon during the chase and somebody stole it before police could come back and retrieve it.

Ellington refused to speculate on whether rivalry between residents of two public housing projects, which was rumored to be the underlying motive for Tuesday's fight, was also a factor in the renewed violence.

Ellington acknowledged that Wednesday's shooting happened when a resident of the C.J. Pete project drove through the Guste project.

In 1998, New Orleans was one of the first cities to sue gunmakers to recover the cost of gun violence and accidental shootings involving children. About 25 other municipalities have filed similar lawsuits. Some have been dismissed while courts have allowed others to continue.

"This horrifying event brings too close to home the widespread proliferation of gun violence and underscores our fighting belief that handguns are too easily available to children," Mayor Marc Morial said.

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