VFC Shield Alert Follow-Up

Alert Follow-Up - Newport News School Shooting

Date of Incident - September 20th, 2021

‌

Summary Statement

The Heritage High School in Newport News, Virginia was placed on lockdown at approximately 11:30 am local time on September 20, 2021, after reports of gunfire at the school.  Two students sustained gunshot wounds during the shooting, and at least two other students were injured as they attempted to flee the school.  Newport News Police Chief Steve Drew confirmed that the shooter was enrolled at the high school.

Attack Overview

A 17-year-old male was grazed on the side of the head by a bullet, while a 17-year-old female sustained a bullet wound to the leg.  According to open sources, the shooting took place shortly before lunchtime following a fight between one of the victims and the shooter.  As the students were being evacuated to the tennis courts, one student suffered a broken or sprained arm, while another experienced an asthma-related episode.  Both were taken to the hospital and later released.

Suspect

Open sources have confirmed that the suspect is a 15-year-old male that attended the high school who fled the school after the shooting occured.   The male suspect was transported by a family member to the city's juvenile services later in the afternoon at approximately 2:30 p.m., where he was then transported to police headquarters.  After being interviewed by police officials, he has been charged with two counts of aggravated malicious wounding, two counts of use of a firearm to commit a felony, underage possession of a firearm, possession of a firearm in an occupied building, reckless handling of a firearm and carrying a concealed weapon. 

Additional Details

Police have recovered the firearm after locating it in a trash can outside of the school and classes were cancelled for the rest of the week.  School officials allowed students to return to the school on Wednesday and Thursday to pick up their belongings. School officials also provided crisis support teams at the school for students to communicate with while they were there.  Newport News Police Chief also confirmed that reports made of shooters at other schools were false.

This is an open-source product.  Redistribution is encouraged.

"Awareness Through Information Sharing"

This assessment is the result of collaboration and cooperation with the Hanover County Sheriff's Department. 

------

Need Help with this Email?

Useful Links

webversion

"Awareness Through Information Sharing"

The opinions or conclusions of the authors reflected in the open source articles does not necessarily reflect the opinion of the Virginia Fusion Center. The sources have been selected to provide you with event information to highlight available resources designed to improve public safety and reduce the probability of becoming a victim of a crime.

------------

You have received this email because has subscribed to the "All Sectors Bulletins" mailing list. Should you wish to unsubscribe please click the link below.

unsubscribe      update profile