Shooting of Student Prompts Lockdowns

Police investigate the shooting of a 10th-grader near Cardozo Senior High School. Investigators took into custody two men "of interest" to the case. (By Bill O'leary -- The Washington Post)

A 10th-grader was shot in the leg near a high school in Columbia Heights yesterday, causing a three-hour lockdown at six D.C. public schools while police searched for possible gunmen, authorities said.

The student, who attends Cardozo Senior High, was shot about noon just steps away from the school, at 13th and Clifton streets NW. He was taken to a hospital with injuries that were not life-threatening, D.C. police said.

School officials said the victim is 16 years old, but police said he is 15.

Just before the shooting, there was an argument at the street corner, said 3rd District Cmdr. Larry McCoy. He said he did not know what the argument was about.

School officials said the victim reported to school yesterday morning and did not have permission to leave before classes ended.

Investigators quickly took into custody two men "of interest" to the case, said Inspector Patrick Burke, also of the 3rd District. Last night, police were still looking for the shooter, Burke said.

Witnesses said they heard as many as seven gunshots and saw three men running from the scene. The victim was struck once in the lower right leg, police said.

A trail of blood indicated that he ran to the main door of the school and collapsed in front of it.

Police and school officials, who did not identify the victim, said they knew of no ongoing trouble or conflicts involving the teenager.

"He's a good student," said Francisco Millet, a regional superintendent. "We're in a quandary about how and why it happened."

After the shooting, the school went into "shelter in place" for about three hours, meaning classroom doors were locked and nobody was allowed to enter or leave the school, Millet said. He put five other schools on the same status, including Meyer Elementary a block away, because a gunman was in the neighborhood, he said.

"The kids were great," Millet said. "They knew it was a shooting because many of them heard it."