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Teacher and student shot after gunman opens fire outside school in Boston, cops say

A TechBoston Academy teacher and student were shot in the school’s parking lot when a gunman opened fire, police said. They survived the shooting.
A TechBoston Academy teacher and student were shot in the school’s parking lot when a gunman opened fire, police said. They survived the shooting. AP

A gunman who opened fire outside a Massachusetts school, shooting a teacher and student, is on the loose, according to Boston police.

Police said the shooting happened Tuesday, March 15, in the TechBoston Academy parking lot as the teacher and student were getting ready for a school event around 5:40 p.m., according to a news conference. The unidentified suspect fled the scene and no potential motives were specified.

The male teacher, 31, and male student, 17, were injured but ultimately survived from what appeared to be an unprovoked attack, police Superintendent-in-Chief Gregory Long said at the conference.

“Obviously, this is a very concerning and disturbing set of circumstances,” Long said, according to the outlet. “Schools are supposed to be a safe haven for our students and our teachers, not a place where they’re subjected to brazen and random acts of violence.”

“As of today, there have been no arrests,” Sgt. Detective John Boyle told McClatchy News in a statement on March 16.

Classes were canceled at TechBoston on March 16 in the wake of the shooting, Boston Public Schools Superintendent Dr. Brenda Cassellius said, according to WCVB5.

“We will provide the additional support that’s needed to ensure that counseling is available for our students and for our staff,” the superintendent said.

A woman who was moving into an apartment nearby the school when the shots went off told NBC Boston that it was “a crazy day.”

“We were all outside. We were moving our stuff in, and then we heard, like, six to seven gunshots just three houses down,” the woman told the outlet.

Hours after the shooting, TechBoston wrote on Twitter that the school has “had a difficult week.”

However, the school wrote “we found joy watching our basketball team play their hearts out this year,” and shared footage of the school’s basketball team after a game played March 15.

“It was a tough loss against @watertownhigh tonight, but thank you to these boys for showing up for our school when we needed a bright spot.”

Boston Mayor Michelle Wu said at the news conference that “this is an unacceptable situation and we are going to do everything it takes to ensure that each one of our schools, parks and communities are the safe, welcoming homes that all of our students deserve.”

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This story was originally published March 16, 2022 at 11:35 AM with the headline "Teacher and student shot after gunman opens fire outside school in Boston, cops say."

Julia Marnin
McClatchy DC
Julia Marnin covers courts for McClatchy News, writing about criminal and civil affairs, including cases involving policing, corrections, civil liberties, fraud, and abuses of power. As a reporter on McClatchy’s National Real-Time Team, she’s also covered the COVID-19 pandemic and a variety of other topics since joining in 2021, following a fellowship with Newsweek. Born in Biloxi, Mississippi, she was raised in South Jersey and is now based in New York State.
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