Three people were shot and wounded outside a high school football game in Ohio on Friday night.
The Friday night game at Whitmer High School was wrapping up when approximately 12 gunshots were heard outside the stadium’s main entrance, reported WTOL 11. Two adults and one student were injured in the shooting but are expected to recover, according to the outlet.
“An act of violence occurred outside the stadium at tonight’s football game between Central Catholic and Whitmer,” a spokesperson for Washington Local Schools, Katie Peters, said in a statement. (RELATED: Roxborough High School Football Practice Ends With Shooting, Leaving 1 Teen Dead And 4 Others Injured)
“No guests were injured in the evacuation and we could not be prouder of our students, staff, Whitmer fans, and our guests from Central Catholic,” the statement continued.
🚨#BREAKING: Multiple people shot at a high school football game
Multiple law enforcement agencies are responding to multiple people shot at Whitmer High school with reports of three people Shot outside the stadium as gun shots can heard in the background pic.twitter.com/sKzix8MnZg
— R A W S A L E R T S (@rawsalerts) October 8, 2022
In one video posted to Twitter that captured footage from inside the stadium, the initial gunshots can be heard in the distance just as the teams begin a play.
In another video, what appear to be Whitmer High School band members were seen running across the football field, fans were frantically exiting the stands, and adults were shielding their young children as they lay on the ground. Later in the video, Toledo’s first responders were filmed arriving on scene.
Although the game between Whitmer and Central Catholic was interrupted with approximately 7 minutes left in the fourth quarter, the teams do not plan on finishing the game, WTOL 11 noted. (RELATED: High School Football Player Suffers Fatal Head Injury During Game)
Two suspects are in custody, but Toledo police are still searching for two other individuals possibly connected to the crime.
“First we want to start with prayers for all those impacted by the events of this evening,” Kevin Parkins, the Head of School for Central Catholic High School, said in a video statement. “We lift up all those impacted, really impacted not just by tonight, but by gun violence as a whole.”
“We need to value life from conception to natural death. And if we are careless with lives, well, there’s nothing more sacred. So we have to continue to fight each and every day so that our world, our country, our state, and our community here in Northwest Ohio how valuable life is.”