One Student Kills Another in Dispute at Maryland High School, Authorities Say

U.S.|One Student Kills Another in Dispute at Maryland High School, Authorities Say

A 16-year-old student at a Maryland high school fatally shot a 15-year-old schoolmate on Friday during a dispute, the authorities said, another episode of gun violence that came just two days after four people were killed at a Georgia high school.

The shooting on Friday took place in a restroom at Joppatowne High School just after noon, Sheriff Jeff Gahler of Harford County said at a news conference.

The 16-year-old fired what the authorities believe was a single gunshot at the 15-year-old, left the school and was later arrested near homes in the area, the sheriff said.

Charges were pending against the 16-year-old on Friday, according to the authorities, who did not name the suspect.

School nurses attended to the victim, who was identified as Warren Grant, a resident of the Edgewood community in Harford County, before he was airlifted to a trauma center at Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore, where he later died.

“We’re all familiar with the horrible shooting that took four lives in Georgia just a couple days ago,” Sheriff Gahler said, “and here we stand in Harford County with a school shooting.”

Though the shooting appeared to have been the result of an isolated dispute, which the authorities did not describe, it prompted anxiety and set into motion protocols that have become familiar across the country, as parents waited to see their children outside a reunification center that had been set up at a nearby church.

Joppatowne High School was four days into the school year, but this was the shooter’s first day at the school, Sheriff Gahler said. But he was known to the Sheriff’s Office.

“We’ve had more than 10 incidents since 2022 where the suspect was either the victim, witness or the suspect in an incident handled by the Harford County Sheriff’s Office,” Sheriff Gahler said. “This investigation is very active and very early on.”

The high school enrolls about 985 students and is part of the Harford County Public Schools system. Joppatowne is roughly 20 miles northeast of Baltimore.

The shooting came two days after the authorities say a 14-year-old student killed four people at a high school in Georgia in what was the state’s deadliest school shooting ever.

That shooting left two students and two teachers dead and has raised renewed questions about how to handle the issue of minors having access to firearms.