Student accused of shooting another at Miami Northwestern is identified. They are 15
The student accused of shooting another at Miami Northwestern Senior High after a boys’ basketball game last week has been identified, Miami-Dade County Public Schools police said.
The 15-year-old shot another student of the same age multiple times, including once in the head, on Thursday night in the school’s parking lot after Northwestern’s Bulls defeated Miami Central High’s Rockets, according to police. The student who was shot remained hospitalized as of Wednesday, Elmo Lugo, a school district spokesman, told the Miami Herald in a text.
The Miami Herald is not identifying the accused shooter because he is underage. Police have not identified the student shot.
Following an investigation, the school district’s police arrested the accused shooter Friday. He is charged with attempted premeditated murder, aggravated battery with a deadly weapon, firing a gun on school grounds, firearm possession by a minor, firing a gun in a public place and interfering with the operations of an educational institution.
The district has not said whether the students attended Miami Northwestern nor how the shooter got the gun he said he used in the school shooting. His mother did not immediately respond to a text from the Herald. The district confirmed that both teens are students of Miami-Dade County Public Schools.
After watching the basketball game at the gymnasium of Miami Northwestern, 1100 NW 71st St., the students walked to a campus parking lot, had a discussion and agreed to fight, according to the arrest report. Cops have not said what the discussion was about.
During the fight, police say a black handgun with an extended magazine was seen on a cellphone video falling out of the hoodie of the accused shooter. Witnesses then separated the two and the accused shooter started walking away.
READ MORE: Arrest made in shooting of a student at Miami Northwestern, authorities say
But at around 10:07 p.m., he turned around and shot at the other student at least eight times, police said. As witnesses ran for cover, school police officers rushed to the parking lot, finding a teen shot to the head with four additional gunshot wounds.
Officers gave the student first aid before paramedics took him to Jackson Memorial Hospital’s Ryder Trauma Center in critical condition, Lt. Pete Sanchez, a Miami Fire Rescue spokesman, told the Herald last week.
The accused shooter, accompanied by his mom and grandfather, turned himself in Friday at the Miami-Dade Schools Police Department. There, police said, he admitted to shooting the other student with a black Taurus handgun, which had attached a 30-round extended magazine.
According to the report, he told officers he dropped the gun while running away and jumping two fences, leading him first to the school’s track and then to Northwest 12th Avenue. Officers spotted the gun along the exterior fence of the school track.
After confessing, police say he was put in handcuffs and taken to the Juvenile Assessment Center.
Parents urge for more security
On Friday, additional police units patrolled Miami Northwestern as the school implemented other security measures.
Samuel, a grandparent of a student, was eager to pick up his granddaughter, who told him she was worried about being at the school.
“She said something happened last night at the game, and there was talk going around there might be trouble in the vicinity,” he told the Herald on Friday, noting he was glad to see more than 10 officers at the school.
He was one of several other parents and guardians who told the Herald they wanted to see more security.
“It just takes one fool to cause a whole lot of problems,” he said. “I think all things will come to pass. If it ain’t a gang, it’s people that don’t go here that come out here fighting and shooting.”
Miami Herald Reporter Devoun Cetoute contributed to this report.
This story was originally published January 17, 2024 at 11:09 AM.
