Student shot during fight at Blake High School’s parking lot

This story has been updated to add new details from the school district.

A student was shot Wednesday during a fight in the parking lot at James Hubert Blake High School in Silver Spring, according to Montgomery County Police and school district officials.

In a Wednesday letter addressed to “Blake families,” Principal Ahmed Adelekan and Superintendent Thomas Taylor wrote that a student was hospitalized but in stable condition.

“Our thoughts remain with the injured student and their family, and with all members of the Blake community who are processing today’s events,” the letter stated.

The campus opened Thursday on a three-hour delay to ensure that students had time to access mental health and support resources.

The letter also said that several students were involved in the parking lot fight, prompting school officials to implement additional safety measures beginning Thursday. The extra precautions include no longer allowing students to eat outside for the rest of the school year. And food deliveries to campus, through DoorDash, Uber Eats and other services, will not be allowed.

Taylor said at a Wednesday afternoon news conference that the incident was “precipitated by an unwelcome, uninvited adult coming onto campus.”

A community meeting will be held Thursday at 7 p.m. to address public concerns about the shooting and the district’s response, according to the letter..

A county police community engagement officer who was at the campus was flagged down about a fight in the parking lot around 11:30 a.m. and responded with security for Montgomery County Public Schools.

During the fight, police said, a handgun fell to the ground. Police took a 19-year-old man into custody and have not identified him, but said on X that he was not an MCPS student.

“A short time later, a juvenile male arrived at an area hospital with a gunshot wound. The early investigation shows that the juvenile was involved in the initial fight,” police said.

The campus is secure, police said, and the investigation remains ongoing. No charges have been filed, officials said at the press conference.

Police Chief Marc Yamada and Taylor praised the quick work of officers and school staff in breaking up the fight.

“They managed to stop any further activity, detain one individual and also recover a handgun that one of the subjects had dropped during the fight,” Yamada said.

Other gun incidents at MCPS

In February a Wootton High School student fired a gun at a classmate, injuring the 16-year-old boy.

And earlier this month, police detained a student at Watkins Mill High School after responding to a report of a student with a firearm. They found one in a student’s possession, police said.

A Montgomery County council member this week called for police officers to return to high school campuses — permanently.

District 1 Councilman Andrew Friedson this week sent a letter “formally requesting that Montgomery County Police and Montgomery County Public Schools convene and develop a strategy to permanently assign sworn law enforcement officers on-site in every MCPS High School.”

The district stopped assigning officers, known as school resource officers, to specific campuses in 2021. The decision came amid a national reckoning over how Black people are treated by law enforcement and local concerns that school-based officers disproportionately arrested children of color.

MCPS replaced its school-based officers with “community engagement officers” — police who patrol the neighborhoods surrounding campuses and check in on schools each day.

Recent incidents inside MCPS schools have reignited the debate over the role of police on campuses.