6 Students Wounded In Las Vegas Shooting

LAS VEGAS, Dec. 11 -- Assailants shot six young people who had stepped off a bus coming from a high school, wounding two critically, in a midday attack Tuesday that followed a fight over a girl, authorities said.

School police arrested three teenagers in the fight hours before the shooting, Sheriff Douglas C. Gillespie said. Investigators were still seeking the gunmen.

The gunfire in a working-class residential neighborhood in northeast Las Vegas occurred blocks from two elementary schools, Officer Bill Cassell said.

At least two people were believed to have taken part, Cassell said. He added that the police gang unit is investigating, although it was not immediately clear whether gangs were involved.

An 18-year-old man was in critical condition and a 17-year-old boy was upgraded to serious condition, both with gunshots to the torso, University Medical Center spokeswoman Cheryl Persinger said.

A man and three teenagers -- two boys and a girl -- were treated for gunshot injuries to their arms and legs and released, she said.

The school bus had left from Mojave High School, Clark County School District spokesman Michael Rodriguez said. The school was expected to open Wednesday with extra security measures and support services, he said.

Both elementary schools were locked down temporarily but reopened within an hour of the shooting, Rodriguez said.

Archie Gorai, 22, who lives about a block from the site of the shooting, said he heard about eight gunshots while he was wrapping Christmas presents at his home.

"I told my wife it was gunshots. She thought it was firecrackers," Gorai said.