BALTIMORE — A Baltimore high school student was fatally shot on the facility’s campus on Friday about 20 minutes after dismissal, authorities said.
According to Baltimore City Public Schools officials, the shooting occurred at about 2:53 p.m. EDT at Mergenthaler Vocational-Technical High School also known as Mervo, WJZ-TV reported. Students were leaving for the afternoon when the victim was confronted by a male student from another school, according to The Baltimore Sun.
“I did not think this was how I would be ending the first week of school,” Baltimore City Schools CEO Sonja Santelises said during a news conference Friday evening.
There was an incident at Mervo today during dismissal. Students have been dismissed and afterschool activities at the school are cancelled. City Schools is working with Baltimore City Police Department.
— Baltimore City Public Schools (@BaltCitySchools) September 2, 2022
School police performed CPR on the victim, who was taken to Johns Hopkins Hospital and pronounced dead soon after his arrival, The Sun reported.
Authorities quickly apprehended the suspect and recovered a handgun in the area, according to the newspaper.
Baltimore Police Commissioner Michael Harrison said that the suspect was apprehended “within seconds” after the shooting, WBAL-TV reported. The victim was taken to an area hospital, where he died, according to the television station.
During a news conference, Harrison did not release the name of the victim or suspect, but said that both were “high school age.” CNN reported the ages of both teens as 17 years old. In a tweet from the high school’s football team, the teen was identified as Jermiah Brogden.
Our hearts are heavy today as we mourn the loss of our student athlete, Jermiah Brogden. Senseless and unexplainable. Please keep the Mervo staff and students and his family in your prayers.
— Mervo H.S. Football (@MustangGang410) September 3, 2022
“This is an extremely tragic situation -- beyond tragic -- happening on the grounds of a school at the beginning of the school year,” Harrison said.
Clyde Boatwright, president of the Maryland State Fraternal Order of Police, said because the school resource officers were outside the school, they were armed, WBFF-TV reported. Baltimore City school resource officers cannot be armed while inside the school, according to the television station.
“It’s because of the swift actions of these school police officers, we hope the family of the slain student will receive justice,” Boatwright told WBFF.
After-school activities, including a football game scheduled for 3:45 p.m. EDT, were canceled, the school district told WJZ.
#BREAKING: Police are on the scene of an apparent shooting in the parking lot of Mergenthaler Vocational Technical High School. https://t.co/o6kzlnhsVG
— WJZ | CBS Baltimore (@wjz) September 2, 2022
“When we have this loss of life in this way, I want us all to take a moment to really think about what that means for our young people, what we have to do in dealing with a school full of children who are crying yet again because they lost another classmate and what that means,” Baltimore Mayor Brandon Scott, an alumnus of the high school, said at a news conference. “Folks ask why I always spend so much time with our young people and why I call for people to step up and help out with young men and show them a different way. This is why.”
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