Two teens from Woodbridge, Virginia, were arrested Thursday for their roles in shooting another teen in Stafford County, according to authorities.
The Stafford County Sheriff’s Office said that the suspected teens, both 17, traveled to Stafford County and got into a fight with the 15-year-old victim.
The fight escalated into a shooting, leaving the 15-year-old with a serious gunshot wound to his back.
Deputies found the wounded teen at the Park Ridge Community Pool on Parkway Boulevard around 4 p.m. He was flown to a hospital with serious, but non-life-threatening injuries. The teen was still being treated for his injuries as of Friday.
The two assailants discarded their guns and fled the scene before law enforcement arrived.
Both 17-year-olds were found hiding in a shed on Boondocks Lane.
One of the suspects was transported to a hospital for treatment of a gunshot wound to the leg before being turned into the sheriff’s office. He was charged with aggravated malicious wounding and use of a firearm during the commission of a felony.
The other 17-year-old was charged with possession of a firearm by a minor and grand larceny of a firearm.
The sheriff’s office is holding both at the Rappahannock Juvenile Center with further charges pending.
Several nearby schools went into lockdown because of the shootings as officers scanned the area for the discarded weapons.
H.H. Poole Middle School, Park Ridge Elementary School, the Merit School of Stafford and Porter Library were placed on full lockdown, while North Stafford High School was placed on partial lockdown. Deputies recovered three guns after a three hour search of the woods.
Superintendent Thomas Taylor said one of the teens injured in the shooting is a student at a Stafford County school. Taylor went on to say safety is, first and foremost, the top priority at Stafford County schools.
“I would love to tell you that instruction is our number one priority in Stafford Schools – it’s not,” Taylor said in the letter on Thursday. “Safety remains paramount in Stafford Schools. The safety of our students, staff, and visitors is essential. Our collective safety relies on all of us to be mindful and caring.”
The Stafford County Sheriff’s Office asks anyone in the area who might have video or any information of what happened to contact Detective N.D. Ridings at 540-658-4400.
WTOP’s Thomas Robertson contributed to this report.
