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‘Bam, Bam, Bam’ ... New Orleans H.S. Gym is Scene of Deadly Shooting

NEW ORLEANS (AP) -- A feud between teenagers apparently spilled over into a packed high school gym as assailants armed with an AK-47 assault rifle and a handgun opened fire, killing one youth and wounding three others.

“I had just left the gym to go to the school nurse when I heard the shooting,” said Kyle Ramos, 15, a student at John McDonogh High School. “Bam, bam, bam. I knew what it was and I ran.”

Four suspects, ranging in age from 17 to 19, were arrested following Monday’s shooting in the gym crowded with 200 students. Police said the shooting appeared to be retaliation for a murder on April 7.

Warrants also were issued for two more suspects late Monday. Police Chief Eddie Compass said he did not know if any of the suspects attended the school, about a mile north of the French Quarter.

It was not immediately clear how the guns got past metal detectors and guards at the school. Students and school security officers said there was a hole in the fence near the gym.

The four suspects apparently confronted Jonathan Williams, 15, as he sat in the bleachers with other students. He was shot repeatedly in the head and body, police said. Three girls were wounded in the barrage and a fourth was injured in the stampede to escape.

School board member Elliot Willard said students told him that Williams was the target and that the girls were accidental victims. Leon Myles, a 17-year-old junior, said he knew Williams. “He was an OK guy,” he said. “It was probably gang stuff.”

Tyrone Crump, 17, Herbert Everett, 18, and Michelle Fulton, 17, were all booked on first-degree murder charges. The fourth suspect arrested, Larry Moses, 19, allegedly hid the trio after the shooting and was booked as an accessory, police said.

Charity Hospital spokesman Jerry Romig said a 15-year-old girl had surgery because a bullet went through both her legs. Michelle Brown, 16, and Trakeido Barracks, 16, were both treated and released. They were grazed by bullets.

A fifth victim, Christian Ransfer, 16, remained in the hospital with stomach injuries sustained when she was trampled as students fled the gym in terror.

Parents rushed to the school only to find their way blocked by police. Many angrily waited outside the school for hours while the students were kept in their classrooms.

“How can they leave us here and us not know if it was our kid that was shot?” Dewayne Thompson asked. “I want them to let me see my child so I can see that he’s safe.”

When school officials said parents could go inside to get their children, the crowd rushed forward and tried to squeeze through the door in a chaotic crush of pushing and shoving.

The last major school shooting in the city occurred Sept. 26, 2000, when two teenage boys, ages 13 and 15, shot each other with the same gun during a fight at Carter G. Woodson Middle School. The younger boy had slipped the weapon through a chain-link security fence.

A state security supervisor said a gaping hole in a plank fence near the gym may have allowed the latest assailants access into the school.

“We had all of this boarded up at one time,” said R.G. Johnson, a security supervisor for the Orleans Parish School Board. “But it’s wide open now.”

Anthony Amato, the school system superintendent, said extra security and counselors will be at the school Tuesday. “We have metal detectors and four security guards constantly patrolling,” he said. “Schools should absolutely be a safe haven.”