WARREN, Mich. (WXYZ) — Police in Warren are looking for a gunman after they say someone fired multiple rounds in the parking lot of a school Monday afternoon.
It happened after school around 2:30 p.m. at Michigan Collegiate High School/Middle School on Ryan Road near E. Thirteen Mile Road.
At least three school buses were loaded with students at the time of the shooting, police said. No one was hurt and investigators say the suspected shooter is not a student.
Police say the shooting stemmed from an altercation between two students earlier in the day. Police say those students were suspended and returned to school for some kind of planned fight.
As a small group of students began fighting just after 2:30 p.m., someone who police confirmed is not a student approached and fired several shots into the air.
"We’re extremely lucky as I said. There was at least three bus loads of students right there and six shots fired within a couple feet of the buses," Warren Police Department Capt. Charles Rushton.
Rushton says the school does not have a school resource officer, but Warren police officers were on scene within a minute of the first call.
Investigators are working to gather and review video footage from school buses and nearby businesses.
“They described it as chaotic. Obviously, kids were running everywhere. Cars were in and out of the parking lot. On both sides, obviously, we have an entrance here to Ryan (Street). There’s also an entrance from Thirteen Mile Road,” Rushton said. “So again, there was just kids running everywhere, the school staff coming outside to see what was going on and the parents were here to pick up kids.”
Parents say the shooting sent them into a panic.
"Its just like Whoa! How does this happen? Because I’ve never been in a shooting. Never been where I feel like I had to go save my kids at school. It was always a safe place," Lucreshia Shaw said.
Shaw says she has two students at the high school and another student who attends the middle school, which are adjacent to each other. She says she got the first call from her ninth grade student after he heard shots while walking home.
"He said, 'I just crossed Ryan and I’ve heard at least three shots.' And I’m like, are you serious?" Shaw recalled. "It was bad."
Michigan Collegiate Superintendent Russell Woodruff told 7 Action News crews on scene that all students are safe. He went on to say the district is fully cooperating with law enforcement and will release more information when they can.
At this time, police say they do not have a concrete suspect description, but an earlier 2000s red Chevrolet Impala and a blue Ford Focus could be involved.
Anyone with information is asked to contact the Warren Police Department at 586-574-4700.
