Two students wounded by gunfire outside Tampa’s Middleton High campus

TAMPA — With a nation in jitters over a South Florida school massacre, gunfire erupted a block from Tampa’s Middleton High School on Friday, prompting a reaction that had some students hiding behind locked doors.

Two senior girls, ages 17 and 18, were wounded, including one who was hit in the leg and a second whose foot may have been grazed by a bullet, police said. Their names were not released. Both attend Middleton.

The first girl was taken to a hospital; the second was treated at the scene.

On a police radio frequency, the incident was described as a drive-by shooting, but Tampa police called the situation "dynamic" and said they are still investigating.

The shooting occurred at 24th Street and Curtis Avenue — not on the campus, but a short block south of it.

"A 17-year-old female was hit in the leg from what appears to be a ricochet, resulting in minor injuries," police spokesman Eddy Durkin said in a news release. "Another 18-year-old female advised she may have been grazed in the foot."

Student Curtis Ross, 16, told the Tampa Bay Times that he saw emergency workers put a girl in an ambulance.

School had been let out five to 10 minutes earlier, he said, and he was near the corner of 22nd Street and Osborne Avenue when he heard gunfire. To him, it sounded like four to five shots, and he couldn’t tell where they were coming from.

He said he jumped a fence and ran, and that’s when he saw the ambulance.

The principal of Middleton High, Kim Moore, sent a recorded message to families.

"Right after dismissal today, there were reports of gunshots in the nearby neighborhood. Most of our students had already left campus but there were still some students in the school. We went on an immediate lockdown and held the buses that had not already departed. This incident occurred in the neighborhood and Tampa police are on scene investigating," it said, in part.

Source :- tampabay