A 16-year-old girl was killed and a 16-year-old boy was wounded in a shooting outside an Atlanta high school after a confrontation that began at an unauthorized graduation party.
Bre’Asia Powell was gunned down about 2:30 a.m. Sunday at the exit driveway of Benjamin E. Mays High School, Atlanta News First reported, citing police and school officials.
She was taken by ambulance to a local hospital, where she was pronounced dead.
The boy, who has not been identified, was listed in stable condition with a gunshot wound.
Authorities said youngsters from across the city gathered for the unauthorized party in the school’s parking lot, Fox 5 Atlanta reported.
“She was her mother’s first-born daughter, her mother’s princess of the castle. She was a scholar,” family friend Davida Huntley said about the tragic teen, according to Atlanta News First.
“Bre’Asia did absolutely nothing. Nothing to cause this. Being at that party was not a conduit to her death,” she said about the rising junior, who loved to play volleyball.
“Guns were in the hands of individuals that didn’t need to have them, that wanted to treat them like super soakers,” Huntley said.
“This was an unfortunate tragedy that has shaken a family and friends circle to its core,” she added, Fox 5 reported.
Mayor Andre Dickens, who attended the school where the shooting took place, told reporters that “this young lady was full of life and was actually expected to be working for the city of Atlanta starting Tuesday in our summer youth employment program.”
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He added: “My heart goes out to both families and definitely to the family of the decedent.”
Police said it was still unknown who opened fire and what led up to the shooting. It was unclear how many people attended the party.
Public schools chief Lisa Herring expressed her condolences for those affected by the horrific shooting and said mental health resources are available to students.
“We recognize that this impact creates trauma,” she said, ABC7 reported.
The city school system said in a statement: “According to Atlanta Police, two teenagers were shot during an unauthorized gathering at the end of the exiting driveway at Benjamin E. Mays High School, early Sunday morning.
“One is deceased and one is being treated at a local hospital. The gathering occurred after a graduation party at another location in the community was broken up by Atlanta Police a couple of hours earlier,” it said.
Ronald Tuck, who lives near the school, said he had concerns before the shooting.
“My prayer was literally, ‘God help this city once the students are out of school because there are some that don’t have anything to do,’” he told Atlanta News First.
Homicide officials said police have reason to believe those involved were also high school-aged.
A $10,000 reward has been offered for information leading to an arrest in the shooting by calling Crime Stoppers at 404-577-TIPS.
