DEL CITY, Okla. (KFOR) – Chaotic moments at the end of a high school basketball game forced a metro school to close for the day.
Police made an arrest on Wednesday after the suspect allegedly fired a gun in a crowded Del City High School gym on Tuesday.
“It’s very scary,” said Major Brad Cowden with the Del City Police Department. “People just want to go to a game and enjoy themselves and have fun, and somebody has to ruin it for everybody and put everybody’s safety at risk.”
On Tuesday night, multiple rounds were fired at the boys’ basketball game against Millwood High School. Police believe a heated exchange may have led to the shooting.
Millwood Public Schools released a statement regarding event protocol changes:
“We are all aware that it takes everyone in our community doing their part to ensure that we have safe events for our students to compete. Sadly, I worry that without an intervention to our current event protocol we may fall short. Our number one concern everyday at Millwood is safety. We pride ourselves in building positive relationships with our students which help us to anticipate issues and/or trouble. We cannot however predict issues or trouble when we open our doors to the general public.
With the utmost concern for our students and our community, we have decided to institute a policy prohibiting any minor not accompanied by an adult from attending any of our final three home games this season. Millwood students may attend with a school ID. We feel that taking this approach will allow us to have better control of our environment and create a safer experience for everyone.
Once again, for the safety of our students and community, all minors must be with an adult unless you are a Millwood student with a valid student ID. No exceptions. We also reserve the right to refuse entry to anyone that we deem to be a safety risk.”
“We had four officers who were already there on the scene for security for the game, and so they immediately attempted to evacuate as many people out of the building,” said Cowden.
Hundreds of people were at the game, but only one man was shot. Based on the surveillance footage, police believe this shooting was not random.
“[It] appears as though these people came in to do this specific incident,” said Cowden.
Police have reason to believe the shooter had a target. However, the investigation is still ongoing. Authorities also believe more shots were fired outside after the first two rounds. Some vehicles were damaged as a result of it.
Major Cowden told KFOR the school’s fieldhouse does not have metal detectors, but security cameras could help piece together what happened.
It’s a pretty large facility,” said Cowden. “There are several surveillance cameras and various different entrances that we have to figure out and kind of put a timeline together.”
According to the Del City Police Department, an arrest was made on Wednesday after investigators received information that led them to an 18-year-old male in Oklahoma City. Police say the suspect has no affiliation with Mid-Del Schools.
Del City Police Department officially responded to the incident on Wednesday:
“The Del City Police Department would like to thank the administration of the Mid-Del
School district for their cooperation in this investigation and to the Oklahoma City
Police Department for assisting Del City officers in the safe apprehension of the
suspect.” said Del City police.
Mid-Del Schools Superintendent Dr. Rick Cobb also responded to the incident on Wednesday:
