Parents demand more protection after student shot outside high school in Newark
NEWARK, N.J. - A day after a student was shot outside a Newark high school, parents are demanding more protection.
This comes an outreach supervisor who helped save the life of the teenager speaks out.
"I am so humbled so, and I would have done it whether I work here or not because that is who I am," Felicia Holt of the Office of Violence Prevention and Trauma Recovery said.
Holt helped students Tuesday leave school safely at Central High in Newark.
On Monday, she was she was working up the street for the Office of Violence Prevention and Trauma Recovery when she noticed a commotion in front of the high school: A 15-year-old was shot in the shoulder and on the ground, with another person trying to save him.
"I offered my shirt. I had my work uniform on. She asked for gauze, nobody really had that out here," Holt said. "I took my shirt off. We applied pressure. Constantly talked to him, mage him feel comfortable. Offered him support until the EMTs got here then went to the hospital and talked to the family," Holt said.
Police said the shooting happened during a school evacuation because of what was believed to be a gas leak, but PSE&G officials told CBS New York there was no gas leak.
The student was standing near Sayre Street and 17th when authorities say someone drove by and shot him. Holt spoke to the teenager who survived the shooting.
"He said he was strong. He said 'Am I strong?' I said yes, you are, you're absolutely strong. You gave me a pound," Holt said.
A source tells CBS New York police are looking to see if the teen walked away from students and got into an argument with a person a few blocks away.
Some parents said they want better protection for students during evacuations and access to their kids.
"There should be a school or building for these students to be dismissed to — and to be taken for safe haven," parent Lyndon Brown said.
As for Holt, an outreach supervisor, she doesn't consider herself a hero.
"Did what I was trained to do. You know, we take classes like stop the bleeding training, in order for us to be an outreach worker," Holt said.
Newark police said they still don't have a motive in the shooting, nor a suspect.
