Student shot outside high school, tended to by school nurse

PITTSBURGH – A 17-year-old student was wounded in a shooting across the street from a high school Thursday and was treated by the school nurse until paramedics arrived.

Police and emergency crews were called to Perry Traditional Academy, also known as Pittsburgh Perry High School, just before 8 a.m. The principal and staffers were responding to a fight outside the school when they saw the injured student and helped him into the building, said Ebony Pugh, spokeswoman for the Pittsburgh Public School District.

Three Perry students were taken into custody shortly after the shooting, which happened in front of a convenience store, said Emily Schaffer, the city’s public safety spokeswoman. About 30 minutes later, a fourth Perry student was detained for questioning.

The injured student had been shot in the hip and was taken to a hospital in serious condition, Schaffer said.

The school was on a modified lockdown for the rest of the day, meaning only students, staff and visitors with a scheduled appointment would be allowed in. Parents were permitted to pick up their children

Most students were already in the building when the shooting occurred, Pugh said, since school started at 7:11 a.m.

Police planned to review surveillance footage from nearby businesses and were working to determine if the gun found nearby was the same one used in the shooting, Schaffer said.

Krista Elway, a clerk at a nearby bakery, told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette she was getting ready to move her car when she heard a shot and saw a group of about six teenagers fist-fighting in the street. Cars drove around the teens, she said.

Elway said she stayed in her car until the situation settled down.