Gunfire outside a high school football game injures one and prompts a stadium evacuation

CINCINNATI (AP) — Authorities say an Ohio student-athlete was injured in a shooting outside a stadium where a high school football game was being played, the second case of gunfire near the stadium this month.

North College Hill police said the gunfire occurred at about 8:15 p.m. Friday in the parking lot of the elementary school during the game between the North College Hill and Woodward high school teams. Police said school administrators and police immediately began to evacuate the stadium and police worked to “secure the crime scene.”

Principal Sam Yates of Woodward Career Technical High School told families in an e-mail that a Woodward student-athlete was taken to a hospital for treatment.

The principal of North College Hill, Eugene Blalock Jr., said in a social media post that he was “disheartened” by what occurred and concerned that “the emotional scars and trauma will be long-lasting.”

“I feel absolutely helpless, but I acknowledge that we cannot control the actions of those who choose to engage in harmful behavior,” he said.

Shots were also fired near the stadium during a Sept. 6 game against Cincinnati Country Day. No one was injured. Blalock said this would be the last game played at the stadium this season.

“I live in North College Hill,” he told The (Cincinnati) Enquirer. “It’s a great community, but there are far too many guns out here on the street.”

A Cincinnati Public Schools spokesperson said a crisis response team “will be on-site to provide support to students as they return to school Tuesday.”