Official wants more security at school games

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By Jeffrey Anderson THE WASHINGTON TIMES

D.C. Council member Muriel Bowser said Monday she will work with police and schools officials to provide more security for high school football games after a man was shot and wounded near the gates of Coolidge High School after a game last week.

Gunfire erupted near the campus at about 11:30 p.m. Friday after the school's homecoming football game against Roosevelt Senior High School.

A 21-year-old man was shot in the arm and leg near the corner of Fifth and Sheridan streets in Northwest as he was leaving the game, according to Metropolitan Police, who withheld the victim's name because he was a witness. He was transported to Washington Hospital Center, authorities said.

Ms. Bowser, Ward 4 Democrat, said such violence was unusual for a Coolidge game.

"I can't ever recall such a serious occurrence, so we're concerned," she said. "We will engage with police and school officials before the next home game to try and prevent this from happening again."

Police have made no arrests and are still investigating the incident, according to 4th District Lt. Kervin Johnson.

Terry Goings, the president of the Parent Teacher Student Association at Coolidge, was in the parking lot after the game when security asked people to leave because there had been a shooting nearby, he said Monday.

"We heard it was some argument between two groups, and a young man was shot," Mr. Goings said, noting that Fifth and Sheridan is a hot spot where youths congregate at night.

"You'd think they'd have police or security directing traffic out there after the game," he said.

Lt. Johnson said police deployed seven officers and a light tower for the Friday night contest between the Coolidge Colts and the Roosevelt Rough Riders, which Coolidge won, 43-6.

D.C. Public Schools officials were not available for comment. Coolidge is run by the private management firm Friends of Bedford, out of Brooklyn, N.Y., as part of a federally mandated restructuring effort under the No Child Left Behind Act.