The 14-year-old had a plan to exact revenge Friday: He would grab a gun and wait at the school bus stop near Manassas and get back at the 16-year-old Stonewall Jackson High School student he had fought with the day before, police said.
When the 16-year-old got off the bus in the Irongate neighborhood in Prince William County, the 14-year-old punched him and shot him in the face at point-blank range, police said. Nine of the 14-year-old's buddies stood nearby for support, authorities said.
The degree of violence alarmed even veteran investigators, but the reason for it amazed them. It was a fight over CDs or DVDs, police said.
"Certainly, it's a troubling case any time a young person has access to guns. In this case, it appears the 14-year-old planned to use this gun," said Prince William County Police Chief Charlie T. Deane. "It sounded like a silly dispute they had, but we are still investigating it."
The 16-year-old was hospitalized with injuries that are not life-threatening and was listed in serious condition.
Friday morning's shooting was the latest instance of gun violence involving juveniles in the Washington area. Last month, three teenagers were shot, one fatally, while standing outside an Alexandria area apartment. Sources close to the investigation say they were mistaken for gang members.
Violent juvenile crime has become a top priority for police in the District, where the number of juveniles slain doubled last year to 24, a three-year high. Yesterday, Mayor Anthony A. Williams (D) told the D.C. Council that he will unveil a strategy to address juvenile homicides, which he called a "very serious, grave and disturbing issue."
In another incident, Prince William police said yesterday that two youths in a black Ford Explorer threatened five fifth-graders walking home from school in Dale City on Friday.
Prince William Commonwealth's Attorney Paul B. Ebert said: "We're definitely seeing younger people turning to violence and the use of the weapon. Irrespective of the cause, it's troubling."
In the bus stop incident, Prince William police said they are investigating how the 14-year-old boy, who is being held without bond at the county's juvenile detention center, obtained the firearm. Police said he apparently does not attend school. He has been charged with aggravated malicious wounding and use of a firearm.
After the shooting Friday, police searched the 14-year-old's home and found 27 grams of cocaine, police said in court papers.
Maj. Ray Colgan, who heads the police department's criminal investigations division, said that the drugs are not linked to the shooting and that the matter is under investigation.
A woman who answered the telephone at the youth's house declined to comment.
"The parents should be concerned that the kid has a gun," Colgan said. "Everybody should be concerned. As a resident of this county, I am concerned. I would think the [victim] had an angel on his shoulder."
Irene Cromer, a Prince William County schools spokeswoman, said an announcement about the incident will be made to Stonewall Jackson students today when they return from a three-day weekend.
Christopher Garrett, whose 17-year-old son is a student at the school, said he is alarmed by how a "kid that age" was able to get a gun, and "what put this in his heart to do that."
