Now it’s a school girl with a handgun

Now it’s a school girl with a handgun
Reuters

WILLIAMSPORT, Pa, March 8: A 14-year-old girl opened fire with a handgun in the crowded cafeteria of a Roman Catholic school on Wednesday, wounding a female classmate in the second US school shooting in three days.The first school shooting in recent years to involve a female suspect unfolded at Bishop Neumann High School when eighth-grader Elizabeth Bush walked up behind 13-year-old Kimberly Marchese in a crowd and shot her in the right shoulder with a .22 caliber handgun.

Marchese was hospitalized in stable condition at a regional trauma center. “It is our information that the victim was seated inside the cafeteria during lunchtime and the other individual walked up and shot her in the shoulder, one time, with a handgun,” a police detective said.

Bush allegedly brought the weapon to school from her parents’ home near this central Pennsylvania community of 31,500.

The two girls, both eighth graders, apparently had been feuding. Investigators described Bush as a shy teenager who transferred from public school a year ago because of harassment only to face more clashes with her new classmates. She was charged with several juvenile counts including attempted homicide, assault and illegal possession of a weapon, and was jailed in a juvenile detention center.The county district attorney’s office said prosecutors would decide whether to ask a juvenile court judge for permission to try her as an adult.

Shortly before noon, the sound of gunfire sent students running from the building or scurrying to barricade themselves in nearby rooms.

Church officials initially reported that school administrators had talked Bush into surrendering the weapon.

But police later said a ninth grader persuaded her to put the gun down and give herself up.

Marchese was flown in stable condition to a trauma unit at Danville, 30 miles away.

Over the past few years, American schools have been the scene of shootings in Oregon, Arkansas, Kentucky, Colorado and California. But until now, those responsible have been boys.

School shooting incidents have fueled debate over whether to tighten restrictions on gun ownership.