Shooting Near Local Youth Football Game Under Investigation
STOWE TOWNSHIP, Pa (KDKA) - Cheering turned to screaming when shots were fired near the Sto-Rox football stadium.
A game scheduled at Sto-Rox this weekend has been moved to another site as police try to determine who was behind the gunfire.
The cellphone video sets the scene of terror. The youth football teams from Clairton and the Hill District clear the field, not knowing the origin of the shots or if they were the targets.
Turns out a block away on Marwood Street, young men were shooting at each other seen in the background of Ring video while terrified residents hide in their homes.
"We heard lots of gunshots, and we fell to the floor," said a neighbor.
This year there's been tension around high school football games with fear that off-field rivalries could result in violence. This particular game was a neutral site playoff between two out-of-town youth football teams. Allegheny County police are investigating the shootout but Stowe Township Police Chief Matt Preininger says the shooting appears to be unrelated to the game itself.
"Our information is it didn't directly have anything to do with the football game. It was just an opportunity an individual took on another individual," said Preininger.
Police initially had no victims but the chief said one young man later showed up at the hospital with a gunshot wound. The incident appears to be part of the alarming surge in gun violence among young people which has claimed the lives of 21 Allegheny County teenagers.
Whether it was related to the game or not is no comfort to the people who live nearby. A woman who did not want to appear on camera said they shot out the windows of her car and she had to grab her children and keep them on the floor until it was safe to get up.
"It's been hell. We were crawling on the floor scared," she said.
Sto-Rox High School is in the WPIAL playoffs but the district's business manager says they have decided not to host any more games this year. They will play Shadyside Academy this weekend in Peters Township.