12-y-o injured in shooting at Ocho Rios High

A 12-year-old female student has been admitted to the St Ann’s Bay Regional Hospital after being shot during an incident at the Ocho Rios High School in St Ann on Monday.

The police say her condition is serious but stable.

Reports are that a 14-year-old male student of a Pineapple, Ocho Rios address took a .23 pistol to school to show off to classmates.

It is reported that at around 12:45 p.m., several students were in the social studies lab handling the gun when one of them is said to have pulled the trigger, releasing a bullet that hit the female student in her thigh.

The injured student was reportedly not among the group examining the weapon.

Upon hearing the explosion, several teachers rushed to the scene, where the injured girl was seen on the ground. She was taken to the hospital.

The teachers recovered a knapsack containing the weapon, which they later handed over to the police.

Senior Superintendent of Police Dwight Powell, the commanding officer for the St Ann Police Division, noted that Ocho Rios High is one of the institutions that have bought into the Safe Schools Programme.

The Safe Schools Programme is a special programme developed to assist schools in managing violence, antisocial behaviour, truancy, children at risk and generally to keep the school environment safe.

It is unclear what impact this shooting incident will have on the programme at Ocho Rios High.

“We are probing this shooting incident and we are following leads as to how and by what means the student came in possession of the firearm,” Powell said on Monday.