BOSTON — A student was left wounded but alive after being shot by a classmate outside Jeremiah E. Burke High School on Tuesday morning.
“At approximately 9:34 a.m., officers from District 2 responded to 60 Washington Street on a report of a person shot,” Boston Police Superintendent of Investigatory Services Felipe Colon said. “On arrival, they located a teenage male, who is a student at the Jeremiah Burke, suffering from a gunshot wound.”
The victim was transported to a local hospital and is reported to be in stable condition, Colon said.
Police broadcast a description of the shooter and located a student matching that alert, who was then positively identified by other individuals.
The school went into “safe mode” after the shooting, and police on the scene mounted a massive response outside the building. Blocks along Washington Street and Geneva Avenue were closed off for hours around the school as officers searched the area.
The firearm used was eventually located near the school.
“I want to thank all of the school staff here today who acted immediately, reached out to public safety,” said Mayor Michelle Wu outside the school. “Within minutes, our student was at the hospital and all of the processes kicked into gear, just as had been planned and practiced.”
Trauma teams were already on-site for students, Wu added, and partners citywide are responding.
“What happened today is not OK,” Wu said. “It cannot be just the responsibility of our school department to address violence in our communities. ... We will not rest. We will do everything possible to pour into our young people, to provide services and support.”
Parents flocked to the scene after reports of the shooting broke out on social media and news outlets, many expressing fear for their children’s safety.
BPS sent out a letter to parents Monday evening apologizing for the delayed notice regarding the shooting and promising internal systems would be updated to ensure timely notification in the event of future emergencies.
The school will also have additional social workers and staff on-site to assist students, as well as a police presence in the coming days, the letter read.
A teen was stabbed at the same high school just last month on Sept. 12, the third day of school. A 17-year-old suspect has pleaded not guilty in juvenile court to charges related to the attack.
“How much more violence does there need to be in these schools before we keep (Mayor Wu’s) attention?” said local religious leader Eugene Rivers at the school Tuesday, arguing the response would look much different if a shooting occurred in a school in Wu’s Roslindale neighborhood. “The conditions of poor Black people in the most violent neighborhoods are being ignored and not engaged by the mayor.”
The school uses metal detectors at entrances. The armed teen Monday was unable to make it inside the school, Rivers said, preventing a “much, much worse” tragedy.
“We’re seeing too many guns in young people’s hands, and right now, at the start of a school day, we’re seeing the terrible consequences,” Suffolk District Attorney Kevin Hayden said.
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