Arrest Made in Ga. School Shooting
Repost
Arrest Made in Ga. School Shooting
SAVANNAH, Ga. (AP) - Police arrested a 19-year-old man in the shooting
death of
a teen-ager outside a high school where hundreds of students were
leaving a
dance honoring the girls' basketball team.
Two other youths were wounded in the attack late Friday outside Beach
High
School.
Authorities said early Saturday that Darrell Ingram, 19, was arrested
and
charged with murder and two counts of aggravated assault.
Ingram is not a student at the high school, and neither is the victim
who died,
police said. Beach High School officials said all three victims were
students
in the district, although it was unclear what schools they attended.
The two injured youths, whose ages and identities were not released,
suffered
gunshot wounds to the head and body, police spokesman Bucky Burnsed
said. One
was in critical condition and the other was treated at a hospital and
released.
The shootings happened near the school, where a dance was held to
celebrate the
Lady Bulldogs' state championship victory March 3. About 300 students
were
leaving the gymnasium about 11 p.m. when gunfire erupted, police said.
``Nobody knows at this point how it got started,'' said Robert Gilbert,
associate superintendent of Savannah-Chatham County Public Schools. ``It
did
not happen on the campus ... it happened across the street, not on
school
property.''
``It's a sad situation,'' Daisy Richards, a grandmother of two Beach
High
School seniors, said as she and other parents stood outside the school
after
the shooting. ``These kids have just as much a right to celebrate their
victory
as anyone else. Why, why, why, don't they get these guns away?''
Officials planned to dispatch counselors to both schools Monday to help
students cope with the shooting, Gilbert said.
AP-NY-03-11-00
------------------------------------------------------------
The following appears courtesy of the 3/11/00 online edition of The
Savannah
Morning News newspaper:
Saturday, March 11, 2000
Three shot in front of Beach High School; one dead, one arrest made
By Paula Reed Ward
Savannah Morning News
As hundreds of youths flowed out of Beach High School late Friday night
after
celebrating the Lady Bulldogs' state basketball championship, three
young men
were gunned down in front of the school.
One of them died late Friday night, and the other two were rushed to
Memorial
Health University Medical Center with gunshot wounds. One of the youths
was
reportedly shot in the head, the other was hit in the buttocks, said
police
spokesman Bucky Burnsed.
The deceased has been identified as Stacy Smalls, 19, a former Savannah
High
School student.
One victim, identified as Lamar Jenkins, was treated and released this
morning.
The other, Ramone Kimble, is in critical condition.
At 4:45 a.m. this morning, Savannah Police detectives arrested
19-year-old
Darrell Ingram, of West 39th Street in Savannah. The arrest was made at
919 W.
Victory Drive. Burnsed said Ingram is charged with one count of murder
and two
counts of aggravated assault.
"Nobody knows at this point how it got started," said Robert Gilbert,
associate
superintendent of Savannah-Chatham County Public Schools. "It did not
happen on
the campus ... it happened across the street, not on school property."
Approximately 300 students attended the dance, he said, which was held
in the
high school gymnasium. The celebration began at 8 p.m. and was scheduled
to end
at 11:15 p.m., about the same time as the shootings.
While the students leaving the dance greeted frantic parents and friends
among
the flashing lights of police cars from three different departments, a
sign
above the school's brightly lit entrance on Hopkins Street read in the
darkness, simply, "Lady Bulldogs State Champs."
Daisy Richards, whose two granddaughters are seniors at Beach this year,
spoke
with her friend, Ellie Jenkins, in disbelief while standing on the
sidewalk of
the school.
"It's a sad situation, for the simple reason ... these kids have just as
much a
right to celebrate their victory as anyone else. Why? Why? Why, don't
they get
these guns away?" Richards cried.
Many of the students who attended the night's dance spoke with each
other in
tight groups outside the school, congregated along the yellow police
tape,
blocking off Hopkins Street from 46th to 47th Streets. A Savannah fire
truck
blocked 46th Lane, while marked and unmarked police cars came and left
the
scene.
A large group of girls at the school said they were told the gunshots
sounded
like firecrackers being set off.
"This is going to put a crush on this school," Richards said. "It's not
just
the kids' lives. It's their mothers and fathers and sisters and
brothers. It
couldn't hurt me more if it was my child."
There are approximately 1,600 students who attend Beach High School,
Gilbert
said.
School Superintendent Virginia Edwards, board president Diane Cantor and
Beach
principal Ola B. Lewis were all at Memorial to be with the victims'
families
early Saturday morning, Gilbert said.
Lewis had been at the dance, and school board member Janie Fowles
arrived at
the school after the shooting, he said.
Crisis intervention and counseling will be available Monday at Beach and
Savannah high schools.
The last homicide to occur at a school in Chatham County was in 1996,
when a
17-year-old Jenkins High School senior was shot to death by another
student.
Dwayne Cedric Martin had reportedly been fighting on and off with Keith
Antoine
Green, then-15, throughout the week of Feb. 23.
On Feb. 22, Green chased Martin down and shot him once in the chest at
the end
of the school day. Police say Green then began kicking and
pistol-whipping
Martin, before shooting him a second time. Green fled the scene on foot
but was
picked up a short time later by city and county authorities.
He was convicted on voluntary manslaughter charges in October of that
year.
Incidences of school violence have permeated the news in recent years,
including mass school slayings in Colorado and Oregon.
Ellie Jenkins, whose own children both graduated from Beach in 1985 and
'88,
was astounded by the violence among today's youth.
"It's hard because you hear all the time what's happening in schools,
and I
always think it's in other cities and other states, not here," Jenkins
said.
As Richards walked away from the school, she had words for everyone.
"All we can do is pray."
Crime and public safety reporter Paula Reed Ward can be reached at
652-0360.
Copy chief Cindy Broome contributed to this report.